Rising Heroes
by Silverlightning27
Summary: Ten different boys, each have a different past life. And different secrets. They don't always get along, as many people don't. But when a different universe is in need of help, this band of young friends will have to rise up to save it. This is the story of the brave, valiant, undaunted, rising heroes. (includes Team Crafted, Bodil40, Bashur, etc. [rated T for possible violence])
1. Chapter 1

**(So… this is my first fanfic/story/thing so…PLZ DON'T JUDGE! I FAN! I hope I'll get better at writing as I go along :D [also cuz I'll feel like a terrible person if I don't do this; I own nothing but the plot.)**

_[Jason's POV]_

The world was falling apart around me. Explosions and gun shots going off every which way. People were screaming bloody murder. Everywhere the only thing anyone could see was rubble from the bombs. The intense war that just started had already scared me and millions of people, ever after only ten days. I clung to my mom's arm as she led me around the broken city.

"Wh...where are we going mommy?" I asked, barely able to speak.

She hushed me. "Don't say anything Jason. I'll tell you when we get there."

I held my breath as another explosion went off in the distance. My parents have been talking about saving some people from the invaders by sending them some place really far away. I don't know where though.

My mom stopped me in the middle of a burning forest, not too far off the town. She set down a small blue capsule on the ground. Slowly, it got bigger.

My mom handed me a blue spacesuit and an orange helmet. "Put these on Jason." She said. I slid the space suit on and put the helmet on my head. I looked over at the capsule, which had fully grown. Now it looked more like a blue bubble. It wasn't huge, but it looked like it could fit a small three year old like me. My mom opened a small hole in it, and put me inside.

"Mommy, what's going on?" I asked.

She sighed. "I...I'm sending you away Jason. To a place called Earth. You'll be safe from the war."

I reached out and grabbed her sleek black hair. "You...you're gonna come with me. Right?"

Tears appeared in her hazel eyes. "No Jason. I can't. I need to stay here and fight. I can't save myself from this war. I can only save you from being harmed."

"N...no!" I hugged her and cried into her shoulder. "I'm not leaving without you!"

She set me back in the bubble as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Please Jason, don't make this hard." She took off her necklace and put it in my hand. "This isn't the last time I'll see you. Besides, I know you'll do well on Earth. But never forget who you are, and where you came from." She kissed the tip of the helmet. "Remember I'll always love you."

She closed the bubble and launched it in the air. In a matter of seconds I was in space. Stars were blurs around me. I started to feel queasy. Agh. Motion sickness. I looked at my mom's necklace to take my mind off the queasiness. I smiled as I looked at it. This was my favorite necklace of my mom's. My dad and I got it for her birthday three months ago.

_-Flashback-_

_My dad and I walked into the jewelry store. It was my mom's birthday and we wanted to get something special. My dad and I looked around for a little bit and he found a pretty silver link chain necklace._

_"What do you think of this one, Jason?" He asked me._

_I looked at it. "Where's the charm? Mom always wears charms on her necklaces."_

_My dad chuckled. "Alright then, why don't you pick it out Jason?"_

_"Okay, I'll find the best charm ever!" I ran off to find it._

_I walked around, looking at the glass cases. I couldn't find one I thought mom would like. Then, I saw a charm with a woman hugging a little kid. I called over to dad, "I like this one!"_

_He smiled. "I think your mother will like it too."_

_-Flashback over-_

I put the necklace around my neck. This might be the last thing I will ever have to remember my family. I closed my eyes, tears falling down on my cheeks. I silently swore I would never take the necklace off.

* * *

I woke up to a loud *bang*. My eyes shot open and I sat up. I was laying on a hill, not too far from a big city. But looking at it… it looked almost exactly like home. I knew it wasn't, but still… I shook my head. I had to forget about that. I walked down to the city. It was fairly nice. Other then all of the trash and graffiti. It was crowded with cars and people talking, but no one seemed to notice me. Which was good considering I was a three year old kid wandering around in a big city alone wearing a blue and orange spacesuit. That luck didn't last for long.

"HEY!" A voice called from behind me. A man walked up to me smiling. "Are you lost little buddy?"

I nodded, hoping that being on a foreign planet counted as being 'lost'.

"Well, where are your parents?" The man asked.

I pointed to the sky. "Up there."

The man's smile disappeared. "Oh… I'm so sorry little buddy." I was confused. Sorry? For what?

"Tell you what," he said, "I work for the New York Orphanage. How 'bout you come with me and we'll try to find you a new home, hm?" He put his hand on my shoulders.

"N...no thanks." I said, trying to walk away.

The man's grip tightened and he smiled. "No please, I insist."

That was it. I may be young, but I'm not an idiot. I can't tell if he was telling the truth or not, so, I ran. I didn't know where I was going, but it would be anywhere but here.

I heard the man yelling after me, so I kept running. After a while I got tired and could barely feel my legs. I felt my eyes start to close. Then I ran into a woman waiting to cross the street and fell.

"Sorry." I mumbled tiredly.

She helped me up. The woman had straight dark brown hair, blue eyes, and a t-shirt and jeans on. She looked around 30 years old. "Are you okay sweetie?" she asked.

I nodded but then collapsed almost immediately. She helped me up again. "What's wrong?"

Before I could respond, the man came, trying to catch his breath. I hid behind the woman as he came up to us. "Ma'am, *pant* I work for the *pant* New York Orphanage and *pant* I'm afraid I need to *pant* take the young boy back with me."

The woman looked confused. "Why on earth would you ever think about bringing my son to an orphanage?" Her son? I was confused. So was the man.

"You can't be," he said, perplexed. "He told me his parents were dead."

The woman just laughed in reply. "And you believed him? With all do respect sir, if I were you, I wouldn't trust little kids saying their parents died."

The man stood up straight, looking annoyed. "Well then, you need to keep a closer eye on your child ma'am, or next time he won't get so lucky." Then he walked away.

I looked at the woman and smiled shyly. "Th...thank you."

She smiled back. "No problem. Now, we need to get you back to your home. Where are your parents?" I didn't respond and her smile faded. "Oh… he was telling the truth wasn't he?"

I started to cry. "M… my parents are gone. They said I would never see them again."

She took off my helmet and wiped my eyes. "Don't cry. Please. Do you have any other family to go to?" I shook my head. The woman thought for a little bit, then asked, "Well, would you like to come and live with me and my husband? I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we adopted you."

Usually I wouldn't go home with a random stranger, my parents taught me better than that. But I was on a different planet, and I was desperate. If I didn't go with this woman, where would I go? "Yeah." I hugged her.

She smiled when I let go. "What's your name?" She asked and we started walking.

"Jason." I said.

She looked at my spacesuit. "I'm guessing you like space, Jason?"

I nodded. "I'm going to be an astronaut when I grow up." I said proudly.

She laughed. "Well, I think you're going to be a great astronaut. My husband Daniel and I also love space. I teach kids about it at a school, and Daniel is an astronomer. Do you know what an astronomer is Jason?"

"It's a scientist that studies space, right?" I wasn't quite sure if it was the same thing here as it was back home, but I got a nod in response.

"You're a smart kid Jason." The woman said as she helped me in a red car. Then she sat in front. As she drove, my eyes started to close. But I can't fall asleep. I need to see what this new planet looks like! But I was also really tired…

The woman turned around. "Go to sleep Jason. You look really tired. We won't be home for a while. I'll wake you up when we get there, okay?"

At this point I gave in. I rested my head on the window and went to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**(Just a quick A/N, I'm dedicating this chapter to PrincessNyx15 for being my first reviewer. Thanks again :D. And sorry if this chapter is a little boring, it's more just a filler. Enjoy.)**

_[Jason's POV]_

When I woke up, my head was on a big fluffy white pillow and I was lying in my bed. I was… home? How? Isn't my home destroyed?

The smell of pancakes filled the room. I opened the door and quietly walked to the kitchen, not quite sure what I would see. When I got to the kitchen, I saw who I was hoping to see. My mom, a frying pan on the stove, flipping her world-famous pancakes.

"MOMMY!" I ran and hugged her. She took one look at me and pushed me away.

"What are _you _doing here?! I was trying to get rid of you for a reason. Can't you just stay away from me?" She kicked me hard in the stomach.

I clutched my stomach and started to cry. Why would she hurt me? I thought she loved me. As I cried, my mom just rolled her eyes. "You are so annoying Jason. All you ever do is cry and whine about everything!" She picked me up and threw me outside. "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT! NEVER COME BACK!"

She slammed the door behind her. I kept crying on the front step of my home. My dad walked up to me after a while. "DAD!" I tried to hug him to, but he just pushed me out of his way.

"I thought Erin got rid of the little brat." He muttered as he went inside and shut the door again.

I just laid on the ground in pain. What did I do to make my parents hate me? Did I do something wrong? Did I say something I shouldn't have?

I just began to close my eyes when I felt someone tap my shoulder. "Jason, time to wake up."

My eyes opened and I looked at the woman smiling at me. It was a dream. I wasn't home. I really was on Earth.

The woman unbuckled me. "We're here." She said. I hopped out of the car and looked at the house. It was in the middle of a neighborhood, with houses that looked almost the same around it. The house itself was white, with a grey roof and a glass door. It was small, had two stories, a little front yard and a fenced in back yard.

The woman led me up to the door and opened it. "Daniel, I'm home!" She called.

I hid behind the woman just as a man walked out of another room. He was a few inches taller than the woman. He had blonde curly hair, green eyes, and wore a blue t-shirt and jeans. He had a bright smile on his face. "Hey, sweetheart. How was work?"

The woman leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "It was great! My students got a lot done today. And on my way home, I found a new friend."

Daniel looked at her, suspicious of something. "You didn't bring home _another _dog, did you Kelly?"

Kelly laughed. "It was just that one time Dan. No, I didn't bring home a dog this time. I'll show you." She turned back to me. "C'mon out, don't be shy." I peeked out from behind Kelly and half waved at Daniel.

Daniel looked shocked when he saw me. His expression was quickly replaced by a smile though. He crouched down to my height. "Hey. I'm Dan. What's your name, kid?"

"I'm Jason." I whispered.

Dan shook my hand. "Nice to meet you Jason. Are you hungry?" I nodded in response.

Dan and Kelly led me into a small kitchen and got me a bowl of mac-n-cheese. They ate slowly as I shoveled the food down. No one said a word the whole time. Eventually I finished and looked up. Kelly and Dan were still eating. I yawned loudly to get their attention.

"I'm really tired. Can I go to bed?" I asked.

Kelly smiled at me and stood up. "Sure Jason. Follow me."

She led me upstairs into a white room with a double bed and a closet. She told me good night and closed the door. I took off my spacesuit, looking forward to seeing the familiar space station t-shirt. But instead, my shirt said NASA on it, whatever that meant. I sighed. "That was my favorite shirt…" I mumbled.

I was just about to crawl into bed when I heard Kelly and Daniel's voices again. "...know that he doesn't have a family somewhere?" Dan's voice asked.

I put my ear up to the door to hear better. They seemed to be talking about me.

"I've already notified the police," Kelly responded. "They said they haven't been told of any missing children. So more than likely his family is gone and he's an orphan. And I am not letting that sweet little boy go to some rundown orphanage."

"But are we really ready to have a kid? They're a lot of responsibility."

"Dan, you make him sound like a dog. He seems like a smart kid. And I don't care what you say, we're taking him in to our family."

"But Kelly…"

"No, I don't want to hear it. You of all people should want to help Jason."

"...Alright, fine. But if the police find his family, you better not break down about letting him go with them."

I poked my head out the door. "You don't have to adopt me if it's too much trouble." I said quietly.

Kelly smiled and hugged me. "No, it's not any trouble at all Jason. You seem like a good kid." She turned and glared at Dan. "Right, Dan?"

Dan smiled too. "Of course. Welcome to the family, Jason." Then he walked over and hugged me to.

I felt like I was going to cry. I felt relieved, I wouldn't have to wander the streets for the rest of my life. But this also means that I'm replacing my real mom and dad. I felt guilty. But they sent me here to live a good life. And this seemed to be just the start of my life on Earth.

I hope it doesn't turn out like my last one.


	3. Chapter 3

**(Hi people. I'm not sure if you noticed, but this story has a awesome new cover. It was made by my friend The Ninja of Writing [Thanks Jordan :D] Anyway, this is a long update. Hope you enjoy.)**

_[Ty's POV]_

I hate family gatherings. They never end up going well for me. Sure, you might say, 'what three year old doesn't want to run around with his sisters, brothers, and cousins?' Well, I don't. Sure, a family picnic would be fun. That is if everyone in my family didn't hate me. Why they hate me, I'm still trying to figure that out. I've never exactly done anything to them. But they still hate me either way.

Anyway, I was just sitting under a tree waiting for the picnic to be over, when my eleven year old brother Caleb shouted over to me, "Hey Ty, you look a little lonely over there. Why don't you come over here and we'll play a game?" He looked like he meant it, but behind his innocent blue eyed stare he was merciless. I shook my head no.

"Aw... C'mon Ty," my cousin Dean said. "We never see ya anymore." I just looked down at my fingers. It's best not to reply in this situation.

Then about two minutes later I was picked up by my shirt. My brother and two cousins laughed. "Let me go!" I screamed and shook. They just laughed more.

They carried me to a tree and took out a jump rope. Caleb smiled evilly. "I think we should play a game. What do you think Max?"

Max, my other cousin, took the jump rope and held it up. "I know just what to play."

Caleb and Dean turned me upside down. I kept yelling and kicking, but they wouldn't let me go. Max tied the jump rope to my ankles and tied the other end to a tall branch on the tree.

Caleb picked up a huge branch and called over to the other kids at the picnic, "Hey! Who wants to whack a pinata?" I'm pretty sure every single one of my cousins and siblings ran over to get a chance to hit me. Caleb went first, and hit me right in the stomach. Then the twins each took a whack. Then my cousins Sasha, Eli, Max, Dean, and so on. It went on for about fifteen minutes. They made sure that there wasn't a spot not left in pain. I knew I was badly bruised and bleeding. I think I had a black eye and lost a few teeth. Finally, Natalie, my six year old sister, took the stick and prepared to hit me.

But right before she got the chance, the jump rope broke and I fell on top of her. Natalie started bawling as I just laid on her, trying not to cry myself.

"What is going on here?!" My mom shouted as us as she stormed over. I couldn't say anything without breaking out in tears at this point, so I stayed quiet and just stared at her. Plus, even if I did say anything, she wouldn't believe me. She hated me more than anyone.

Everyone stared at Natalie and my mom for a bit. No one said a word. Then Caleb spoke up. "It's Ty's fault. We included him in a game and he tackled Natalie."

My mom turned to me. "TYLER!" She picked me up and smacked my face, probably ignoring the fact that I was already hurt. She dragged me back towards the picnic area as everyone else behind me started snickering. When I looked back, I even saw Natalie standing there laughing and perfectly fine.

My mom sat me down on my family's blanket and started lecture me. "It's not right to hurt people, especially your sister. As a punishment, you will sit here for the rest of the picnic and you won't have lunch. Got it?"

"Yes." I mumbled. My mom walked away and left me sitting there. I stared at the ground and started picking at the grass.

I sat there in silence for maybe two hours, then I heard the sound of my family laughing. I looked up and watched my family having fun, not giving a crap about me. "Fine," I thought, "If they don't care about me, why should I put up with them? They won't mind if I'm gone anyways." I stood up and, despite the pain, ran away from the picnic site.

* * *

I wasn't paying attention to where I was running, and I didn't care. I wouldn't care if I ended up in China somehow. But my legs and stomach started hurt badly again, so I stopped. That's when I realized where I was; nowhere. I ended up in the middle of a thick dark forest with no life whatsoever. I was alone and lost. I almost started to cry. "Why did I have to run away?" I quietly asked myself. I sat down on the ground and stared at the endless amounts of trees around me.

I heard leaves rustle behind me. "Hello?" I asked. But when I turned around, there was no one there. "Maybe I should keep walking," I told myself. I stood up and almost screamed. The pain seemed worse than before. I collapsed back on the ground. A grumble came from the same place. I looked, and all I saw was… purple snowflakes? What? "I'm probably just seeing things." I said to myself. I leaned against a tree and closed my eyes. "Dad said things like this aren't real."

Then something touched my shoulder. I didn't have time to turn around before it grabbed my neck and stopped me from breathing. Everything went black after that.

* * *

Purple eyes. That's what I woke up to. Huge scary glowing purple eyes. "Hello Ty." The eyes can talk! I backed up until I hit a wall. The eyes laughed. "Relax. I don't intend to hurt you. In fact, I'm here to help you." The eyes moved closer, until they weren't just eyes, but a huge black dragon. I backed up until I hit a wall. The dragon chuckled, or at least I think it chuckled. "Now now Ty," he said soothingly. "I said that I wouldn't hurt you and I mean it." I didn't respond. "Let's talk about your family Ty." The dragon said. "What do you think of them?" I still didn't talk.

The dragon and I sat in silence for a while. Finally I cracked. "I hate them," I said, "And they hate me. They hurt me and don't care. I wish I could show them what it was like to be hurt for no reason."

"I can help you with that Ty," The dragon said. "I can help you get revenge for all they did to you. You can make them pay."

The words echoed in my head. _Help, revenge for all they did, make them pay. _It sounded good. But how can I take revenge on my own family?

The dragon rolled something on the ground to me. "Ya know, you were never meant to be treated like this Ty," He said. "You were meant to be so much more."

I bent down and looked at the object. It was hard to see in the dim light, but it was round like a ball and was a bluish-green color.

"Take it Ty," the dragon urged. "It is rightfully yours."

_Take it. _Voices started to chant. _Take it. Take it. Take it._

I picked up the ball, and what was painful before seemed like nothing. I screamed and crumpled to the ground. My entire body instantly burned with pain. Tears streamed down my face. I wanted to scream make it stop, but I couldn't seem to make the words come out of my mouth.

Through all this, I could almost feel the dragon smirking down at me. "Yes Deadlox," he said. "Become what you were meant to be all along." I blacked out from the pain soon after he said that.

* * *

I wish I could say that I woke up next to my family and then they started to hit and yell at me for running away and being an idiot. That would have scared me less. But I didn't. I woke up because of a branch falling on my head. Talk about rude awakenings. I groaned and opened my eyes. I was in the forest next to a pond, and that was about all I could see.

I was relieved that I was alive, but what happened? It could just be a dream. No… it was too real to be a dream. I had to find out. I winced standing up, but managed to make my way over to the pond slowly. If it was a dream, I should look fine, but if it was real, I would probably be beat up from the pain.

I looked into the water, and almost fell in from the shock. The first thing I noticed was that there were two huge purple and black wings on my back and a black tail curling around my legs. Then I started to notice details. My eyes were purple, just like the dragon. My nails had become claws and my teeth were more like fangs. Black scales trailed up my arms. "What am I?" I asked myself quietly. I touched the water just for a second, then my hand started to smoke. I pulled it back and grimaced in pain. "Okay," I said. "Since when is water fire?"

_Enderlox_... something hissed behind me. I didn't bother to look for whatever said it. I was too busy thinking.

"Enderlox," I thought, "Is that what I am now?" I looked at my hands. I noticed on my wrists there were two purple wristbands with the ball that I'd seen at the cave on them. I flipped one, and on the other side was a normal human eye. I flipped the other one and saw the same picture. A warmth seemed to go through my body. When I looked down at my hands again, they looked normal aside from the wristbands. I glanced back into the lake and saw that I looked like myself again, but really beat up.

Maybe I was supposed to feel relieved or confused or even scared by what I saw, but I couldn't feel anything. I seemed like a cold emotionless rock. I just got up and started walking. I didn't know where I was walking to, why I was going or what was going on. I just kept walking without thinking. And walking. And walking. And walking.

* * *

I finally snapped out of my trance when I walked into a brick wall. "Ow…" I mumbled, rubbing my forehead. I swear I wasn't even standing there for more then five seconds before I heard a scream, "TY!" Natalie came behind me and almost suffocated me to death with a hug.

I glanced at the brick wall I walked in to. It was Natalie's school. Oh. I guess this made a little more sense.

"Where have you been?!" She screamed. "Mommy and daddy are worried sick!" I didn't even get a chance to explain before she started dragging me home.

* * *

Natalie busted open the front door to our home while I was trying to catch my breath. "MOMMY, DADDY, I FOUND HIM!"

My mom came down the stairs first. "Natalie, what do you… AH!" She looked shocked for a second, and I thought she might just give me a hug for being home. I should know better by now. She just slapped me across the cheek. "WHERE DID YOU DISAPPEAR TO TYLER!? YOUR FATHER AND I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!" She dragged me into the kitchen. She continued to hit and yell at me, calling me an idiot and other names. I started to cry. "DON'T YOU START CRYING TYLER," my mom yelled. "YOU JUST DISAPPEAR FROM ALL OF US FOR A MONTH AND _YOU _START CRYING?! I SHOULD BE THE ONE CRYING FOR HAVING SUCH A SAD EXCUSE FOR A SON!

Another voice came from the stairs. "Carolin," it was my dad. Now, you're probably wondering, 'where was he this whole time?' Well, my dad travels a lot, so he wasn't at the picnic. He's not really around much ever. But the plus side to him being gone all the time is that he doesn't hate me. In fact he's really the only one who treats me like I'm his son instead of a punching bag.

So my dad walked down the stairs and came into the kitchen. "What is all this screami… Ty?" I waved shyly. He looked back at my mom. "Carolin, do you mind if I talk to him?' My mom walked out of the kitchen, making sure to pretend I wasn't there.

My dad grabbed a glass of water and handed it to me. I took it, but didn't dare drink it. I didn't want my insides to burn. My sat down at the kitchen table and motioned for me to sit next to him. I kept my head low and sat on the chair on his left. "Ty," he asked, "Why did you run away?"

I still avoided his eyes. "Everyone was beating me up. Then I fell on Natalie and mom said I wasn't allowed to eat. No one likes me, so why should I be here? They'd be better off without me."

My dad gave me a sad look, "Ty, I'll have you know that everyone was worried about you, especially me and Natalie. You can't just disappear for a month like that."

"I wasn't gone for a month," I told him.

My dad looked at his phone. "Well, today is May 14th, and I believe that the picnic was April 6th, wasn't it?" He handed me his phone and sure enough, the calendar said May 14th. A month? How was I gone a month?

My dad stood up. "Ty, do you promise me that you won't run away again?" I nodded. He smiled. "Good, because I have a little surprise for you." He went into the living room and came out with a black and green package. "I'll be gone on a business trip when your 4th birthday comes around, so happy early birthday Ty!"

I ripped off the wrapping paper in a matter of seconds, then opened the box. It was a black and neon green headset, just like the kind my brothers had. I gave my dad a bear hug. "They're awesome! Thanks dad!"

He smiled. "I'm glad you like it Ty. Now, you should go to bed. I'm guessing you're pretty tired after all that happened." I nodded, despite the fact that I apparently slept more over the past month than I ever had in my entire life. I hugged my dad and headed up to my room. My room was the smallest and only had a bed and a dresser in it. Nothing really to call my own. I sat down on my bed and stared at the headset, thinking about what I saw. The dragon, the round object, me with dragon wings and a tail, what was it all? What happened to me?

A quiet knock interrupted my thoughts. "Ty?" Natalie opened the door. I didn't look at her. "I know you're mad at me, but I'm sorry that I was so mean to you. I thought if I didn't everyone would make fun of me." I didn't say anything. "I just want you to know that I'll be here for you. Count on it." The door closed quietly. Did she really mean that? Can I really trust her? I shook my head. Too many questions. I pulled down the sheet on my bed and climbed in. Tomorrow. I'd deal with everything tomorrow.

**(Yeah… I'm sorry I had to include Enderlox. Please don't kill me. I swear, this isn't like a normal Enderlox story. He won't be relevant until later.****)**


	4. Chapter 4

_[Quentin's POV]_

If I could stop time, I would stop it during the summer. My parents take me to our little cabin on the beach and we stay there until fall. Today was our first day of being there. I jumped out of the car, threw my stuff in my bedroom, then immediately started to bug my parents about going on our boat. "Quentin," my mom tried reasoning with me. "We just got here five minutes ago. We still need to unpack. How about we go out on the water in a couple hours?"

"But I wanna go now!" I whined. I even grabbed my swimsuit and snorkel just to prove I wasn't backing down on this.

My dad joined the quarrel. "Well May, why not go out now? We can unpack when we get back."

My mom looked at us and realized there was no way she could fight us both on this. After all, my dad loved going out on the boat even more then I do. "Fine," she sighed. "Let's go."

I cheered all the way down to our dock. We uncovered the boat. "Hey Beauty," my dad said to the boat. I laughed and my mom rolled her eyes.

"Do you really need to talk to the boat Mike?" She asked.

My dad smiled, "Well she is my baby."

We climbed into the boat and headed out on the ocean. I sat at the back with my mom, admiring the view. The sun rays reflected off the water, making it seem like someone had poured a can of glitter in it. The sky was pure blue with only a few clouds.

The boat motor stopped and my dad took out his fishing gear. He smiled at me. "Want to help me catch dinner Quentin?"

I took the smaller of the two rods. "Yeah!" I replied. He put a worm on both of the fishing rods and then we put it in the water.

"Now you have to be real quiet," My dad said. "We don't want to scare the fish away." I nodded. So we waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually both my parents fell asleep. I sat on my chair staring at the poles. Nothing was happening. I glanced back at my swimsuit and snorkel. Surely it wouldn't be a big deal if I swam just for a little bit. I put the stuff on and went down the ladder into the cool water. It felt like heaven. I swam for hours straight, diving underwater for a bit then coming back up and swimming on the surface. I was having such a great time, I didn't notice I was getting further and further from the boat. I felt like I was in some sort of trance. I dove down again and swam into a giant blue fish thing. When we made eye contact we both swam away in shock. When I hit the top of the water, I realized how choppy it was getting. And how dark the sky was getting. And how windy it was. And that I couldn't see the boat anymore. _Uh oh._

I swam around, calling my mom and dad. The waves got bigger every minute. It started raining too. Then the waves started pulling me down under the water. "HELP!" I screamed when I could. "HELP!" No one came. The waves pulled me under again. But this time I didn't have enough strength to swim back up. I sunk deeper and deeper into the water. Right before I ran out of breath, I swear I saw the blue fish from earlier swim towards me.

"You're gonna be alright," it said. And that was the last thing I heard.

* * *

Everything was dark when I started hearing voices. One sounded like a little girl, the other a woman.

"What's gonna happen to him mommy?" the little girl asked.

"He should be fine Kara. He'll just need a little time to heal." the woman replied.

"He looks like he's dead." the little girl, Kara I guess, said.

The woman chuckled. "No Kara. He's alive. Though he probably wouldn't be if you hadn't brought me to him. You did a great thing today."

"I can't wait to show Kimmy, Jered, and daddy!"

"Kara, don't tell anyone about him yet."

"But-"

"Just don't, okay? I'm not too sure when he'll wake up. It might be a couple of days, or a couple of months. We'll just have to wait and see. Now you should really get to bed. It's late and you have to get up early tomorrow."

"Can't I just stay up a little longer?"

"No Kara. You should've gone to sleep hours ago."

"*sigh* Yes mommy."

I felt a hand on my forehead. "I hope this works properly." After she said that I faded back into a deep sleep.

* * *

When I finally completely woke up, I was in a bed. For a second I thought I was home, but then I realized that home didn't have rocks for walls and it also wasn't filled from top to bottom with water. I sat up straight and looked around. The cave room didn't have much in it, just a couple of rocks next to the seaweed and anemone bed I was on and a partly broken mirror on the other side. Oh, and a door on a wall. A muffled sound came from it. I walked over and tried to make out the voices.

"-awake yet mommy?" It sounded like the little girl from before.

The woman sighed. "No Kara. I told you I'd tell you when he wakes up, so please stop asking."

"Sorry mommy. I'm just really excited to have a new little brother!" Were they talking about me? How could they be? A muffled shout came from another room. "That's Sadie. Bye mommy!"

I cracked open the doors a bit just to see what they look like. I gasped and slammed the door close. They... they were the blue fish things I saw in the ocean! But... if they live down here, and I'm here with them, then what do I look like? I walked over to the mirror and did what any normal person would do; I screamed my head off. _I_ was also a blue fish! I had dark blue skin, a light blue mohawk thing on top of my head, orange fins on my cheeks, did I mention I was blue? It really freaked me out. I sat down in the corner. Why was I a fish?

There was a soft knock on the door. "May I come in?" It was the woman. I didn't respond, but she came in anyways. She gave me a smile and sat down next to me. "Glad to see that you're away little guy. How are you feeling?"

"I'm a fish." I mumbled.

The woman tsked. "Amphibian. Calling a mudkip a fish is a serious offence."

"Why am I here?" I asked.

She didn't look me in the eye. "The storm on the surface. You ran out of energy and were drowning. My daughter and I found you and brought you here. You were almost dead by the time we got you here, so I transformed you into a mudkip so you could live."

"Can you change me back?" I asked. She didn't reply. "Can I see my mom and dad again?" Still she said nothing. "Will I be like this for the rest of my life?"

"I'm sorry." She whispered. That's all she said, but that answered all of my questions. I curled myself up in a little ball and cried. She hugged me. We sat there for probably an hour, me crying and the fish woman trying to comfort me. How can I live as a fish the rest of my life, not able to even see my family?

I finally calmed down, and the fish woman started talking again. "What's your name?"

"Quentin," I told her quietly.

"That's a nice name. Mine is Sage." It was quiet for another few minutes, then Sage looked at me. "You know Quentin, I think that it's time to start over. Let's start with your name. Quentin isn't really a name for a mudkip. I think we should give you a new name."

"But I like my name," I said a bit defensively.

"I'm not saying it's a bad name, I just think that you would feel like you fit in better if you had a mudkip name."

I could tell what she really meant. I needed to change my name so I could forget my old life. But I don't want to forget. I don't think I can forget. But it seems like I don't have any other choice. My mom and dad would want me to make the best of it. "Can my name be Husky?" Husky was a old nickname I got when I was a baby. If I need to make my name different, then I at least want a name that comes from my family.

I was afraid that Sage wouldn't go with the idea, but she nodded. "Yes, that sounds like a good name."

"For a fish name," I quipped.

Sage sighed. "You have a lot to learn."


	5. Chapter 5

_[Quinten's POV]_

It's been a month since I've become a mudkip, and for that month I have learned a lot. Sage introduced me to the rest of the family, her husband Nich and their kids Kimmy 17, Jered 14, and of course Kara 8 who treated me like I was the best thing she'd seen her entire life. The fact that I was only four and was a different species made them enthusiastic to help me. Each of them helped me with a different skill that I needed to be a mudkip. I called it fish training at first, until Sage taught me why calling mudkips fish was so offensive. During the training, Sage taught me common behaviors, which honestly aren't a lot different from the human behaviors I was used to. Nich, being the city designer, taught me about the city. Where things were, the history behind it, and some of the jobs and schools that were there. Kimmy taught me social skills. Jered taught me about different technologies, and Kara taught me her favorite mudkip games. At the end of the month, they all became my family. They felt that way too. Sure, it may have been hard to adjust to eating vegetarian all the time, but I guess you get used to anything.

This morning, I woke up to the faint sunlight shining through the water, and Kara banging on my door. "Husky!" She yelled. "I have awesome news!"

I got up and opened the door. She tackled me with a hug and a smile. "Mommy said that you could come to school with me! Isn't that great?!"

I smiled and tried to pry myself out of her hug. "Yeah! That sounds awesome."

She finally let me go and then started jumping with excitement. "We're leaving in an hour, so we better go get breakfast."

We walked into the kitchen where Sage was standing over the stone counter fixing a couple bowls of the ocean version of cereal (I have no clue how that works, but it tastes pretty good so I'm not questioning it). Kara and I grabbed our bowls and sat down at the table. Kara scarfed down the food in a matter of minutes, but I just picked at it. After Kara went to get dressed, Sage came over and sat next to me.

"What's wrong Husky?" She asked.

"I'm just a little nervous about going to school with Kara," I told her. "I'll probably act stupid."

Sage chuckled. "Husky, I wouldn't let you go if I didn't think you were ready. I know that you'll do great when you get there."

"Really?"

"Mhm. Besides, I think that you're probably getting pretty bored with seeing the same mudkips every day. It's time you make some friends."

I smiled and gave her a hug. "Thanks Sage."

"No problem. Now go get ready. Heaven knows your sister won't be able to wait much longer."

It felt weird hearing Kara, a species I didn't know existed until a month ago, being called my sister. But at the same time it made me feel happy. I had a family. They may not be what I had before, but they saved my life and took me in like I was their kid. They loved me. Just like my mom and dad had. A tear slid down my cheek, but I quickly wiped it away. The past is the in the past. I had to move on.

I walked to my room and put on my suit (the casual clothes for mudkips. I found it weird too). As soon as I finished fixing my tie, Kara barged into my room in her dress and started to drag me out. "Come on Husky! We're gonna be late!"

We went into the kitchen and grabbed our lunches from Sage. "Hey!" She called as we were about to go out the door. "Aren't you forgetting something?" She held her arms open for a hug.

Kara groaned in annoyance and gave Sage a quick hug. "Bye." She said.

I walked over and gave Sage a huge hug. "Bye mom," I said. She looked shocked at first, but then smiled.

Kara dragged me out the door. "C'mon!"

As we walked, Kara rambled on about everything we were going to do today. I just looked around the ocean floor. I always had wondered what it looked like. It wasn't as cool as I thought it would be, but it was still pretty cool. There were lots of different types of coral and anemone, and rock were scattered everywhere. There wasn't any other sea life at the moment, because according to Nich we lived right by the drop-off, and not many creatures wanted to be there.

My thoughts were interrupted when Kara pulled me behind a huge rock, almost panicking. "What?" I asked her.

"Diver." She whispered. "Stay here until it goes away."

Diver? A human. An actual human. I had to see this. I poked my head around the rock and saw nothing. I stepped out and looked around. "What are you doing?" Kara hissed.

"There's nobody here." I told her. I walked a little further. Still nothing. I wonder if Kara is okay.

"HUSKY!" She screamed. I barely turned around when I came face to face with a net. It wrapped around me. I tried to free myself, but nothing worked. I was trapped. The diver went over to Kara and trapped her too. We both struggled to get out of the net, but it was no use. The diver swam up to a boat and threw the nets on deck. Another man grabbed the nets and put us into small tanks.

"Great find Frank," he told the diver when he came up. "We'll definitely get a raise for this! I've never seen fish this big before!"

"They're beauties, aren't they?" Replied Frank, admiring me and Kara like we were trophies.

"C'mon," the other man said, walking towards the stairs. Frank followed him. "Let's get back to shore."

I looked over at Kara, who was crying in her tank. I don't blame her. I wanted to cry myself. It was my fault we were here. The second time a disaster has happened in my life because I didn't listen. "I'm sorry," was all I could seem to say. "I'm sorry." Then I started to bawl into my hands.


	6. Chapter 6

_[Adam's POV]_

Nightmares. Every night it's the same, but that doesn't make it any less terrifying. It starts out with me going outside the safety of my home. Then people come walking over to me, wanting to ask who I was, or just say hi. "Go away!" I yelled. But they all look into my eyes. And the next thing I know, every single person who looked at me started screaming, then dropped over and died.

I closed my eyes, not wanting to look at the dead corpses I knew were there. But that isn't how the nightmare works. It _made _me look. I almost broke down into tears from what I saw. Men, women, children, elderly, all laying on the ground, some had bloodshot eyes with blank stares.

_You did this_, an eerie voice hissed around me. _You killed them all Adam. _

"I-I didn't want to kill them," I whispered. "I told them to go away."

_Murderer, _the voice said. _Freak. Cursed child. You caused the death of the human race. _

Wind picked up around me and the sky became dark. "I didn't want to!" I yelled.

_Killer, _the voice was becoming louder. _Killer. Killer. Killer._

I sat down at the center of all the bodies and cried. The voice kept chanting killer. Then something cold went up my spine, and I screamed.

* * *

I sat up straight in my bed, breathing heavily. The nightmare had been going on for weeks now. I hadn't told anyone about it, mostly because I didn't know what it meant. People looked at me and died. Why?

I turned on the light and checked the clock on my wall. It was three fifteen in the morning. I cracked open my door quietly, not wanting to wake up my dad. I tiptoed to the family room and turned on the TV, hoping it would take my mind of the nightmare. The show that was on was one of those home renovation shows, which were my favorite kind. Not really because of the building, but because I like to see what the houses look like. It's always so different from my home, which is just a kitchen that we also use as a family room, a bathroom and two bedrooms. We don't even have windows. I don't know why, but my dad doesn't want me to go or see outside, so the closest I can get is these type of shows.

I watched the show, noting every detail about the home. The couple was marveling at this old mirror that was apparently the girl's grandparents. I sighed. I wish we had a mirror so I knew what I looked like. That's another thing we don't have at my house for some reason. I asked my dad what I looked like, and he wouldn't tell me. I wanted to ask him what he wasn't telling me, but obviously that wouldn't work. The man's locked tighter then a safe.

So I sat there for a good five hours doing nothing but watching home renovation shows and wishing that it was my life. Then finally my dad heard the TV and woke up. He sat down next to me and gave me a quick hug. "Morning Adam." He said not looking at me. I didn't respond. "Is there something wrong?"

I wanted to shake my head no, but instead I broke down into tears again. "D-dad, I've been having n-nightmares."

My dad patted me on the back. "It's alright Adam. What were they about?"

"I-it's only one," I told him through tears. "People look at me… and then they die. I don't do anything, they just die because they looked at me. Then this voice calls me cursed child and killer. I've been having it for weeks. I didn't want to tell you because it scared me."

Out of the corner of my eye I could see that my dad looked just as scared as I did. "This has been going on for weeks?" I nodded.

Randomly, other questions came into my head. I guess if I'm spilling my guts about the nightmare, I might as well say everything else that was on my mind. "Dad, why don't we have any windows or mirrors? Does it have something to do with the nightmares?" My dad didn't say anything, so I kept asking questions. "Why can't I go outside? Why won't you tell me what I look like? Why won't you look at me?"

I thought my dad was going to start crying, but he just took a deep breath. "I guess I can't hide it from you forever. When you were born, the doctor said there was something… off about you. So your mom stayed in there for an hour with the doctor trying to figure out what was wrong with you. Eventually all the noise in the room just stopped, so I went in to see what was happening. You were fine, but your mom and the doctor were just… frozen. They didn't have a heartbeat and they weren't blinking. No one could explain it. They tried for days to wake them up, but eventually they told me to just take you home. So I did.

"For months nothing happened, you slept most of the time and life went on for me without your mom. But my break ended eventually and I had to go back to work. I got a babysitter for you and left. When I came back, I saw the babysitter feeding you all sorts of food that you weren't supposed to eat. I yelled at her, but it was like she couldn't hear me. She was in some sort of trance. Hypnotized. Eventually I called the police and they snapped her out of it. They asked her a few questions but she said that she didn't remember anything. She didn't let anyone into the house, it was just her and you.

"Then the same thing happened to me the next day. I was getting ready to give you lunch when I looked into your eyes and went into some sort of trance. I woke up five hours later. That's when I realized what was going on. Your eyes froze your mother and the doctor and hypnotized the babysitter and me. I don't know how, but you did. I didn't know what else your eyes could do, so I locked you in the house, removed all the windows so you wouldn't do anything to anyone else, and removed all the mirrors so you wouldn't do anything to yourself."

I tried to process what he was saying. But all I heard was that I hurt people when they looked at me, just like the nightmare. "I killed mom?" I whispered.

"You didn't mean it Adam. You had no way of controlling it." That didn't make me feel any better. I killed my own mother. I'm a monster.

"Dad," I asked, "what do my eyes look like?"

My dad kept his eyes locked on the TV, but he looked like he was deep in thought. "I don't think that they were one color. It was like your eyes were the sky, they were blue with patches of white in them."

For a while we just sat in silence, just staring at the TV. I guess neither of us really knew what to say. I could only think about how I killed mom and that doctor. The voice started chanting in my head again, _killer, killer, killer_. Tears burned my eyes. My dad gave me a small hug. "It's not your fault Adam."

"I killed them."

"You were just a baby. Besides, I should've tried to help you, not just lock you away from the world. I promise, we're going to figure out a way to make life normal for you."

I wanted to ask him if it was possible, but I was crying to hard.

* * *

That night, I had the nightmare again. Only this time the only person there was my mom. When she died, I cried. Pretty typical night for me at this point. I woke up and looked at the clock. Ten twenty. I guess I slept in. I walked to the kitchen and there was already a sandwich sitting on the table. My dad was sitting eating another sandwich while reading the newspaper. He looked over and smiled at me, or at least the bottom half of me. "Hey sleepyhead. Glad to see you're finally awake. I made a PB and J sandwich for you if you're hungry."

"I can make my own sandwich," I said. When my dad goes to work, I pretty much fend for myself. I've gotten pretty good at making sandwiches.

"I know, but normal people don't leave four year old kids home alone to make their own sandwiches. So I thought it would be a nice change." He took another bite of his sandwich. "Today's the day Adam. We're gonna make your life normal." Wait, he was actually serious about that?

After we ate, we changed into clean clothes and brushed our teeth. Then my dad opened the front door and the light practically blinded me. I waited for him to leave, but he just stood there with the door open. "C'mon Adam, I'm not gonna stand here all day." I stood there in shock for a moment. He wanted me to go outside! I practically ran out the door. My dad led me to his car and we got inside. "Now Adam," he turned around from the drivers seat, "Until I tell you you can stop, you need to look down." So I did. I felt the car moving, and music started playing.

"Dad, where are we going?" I asked curiously.

"You'll see soon Adam," he replied.

"What are we even doing?"

"I have an idea that might help you."

That was it. He wouldn't say another word. Eventually I got bored of staring at the grey carpet on the floor. "Are we there yet dad?"

"Soon Adam."

"Now?"

"No Adam."

"Now?"

"Adam, stop asking or we'll never get there."

After what felt like hours, we finally arrived. My dad opened the door and told me to hold his hand. I kept looking down, so I could only really see my feet and the sidewalk. My dad led me into a building where the sidewalk became white tile.

We wandered around the store for a bit, then another voice started talking. "Can I help you sir?" It sounded like a girl.

"Yes," my dad's voice responded. "Can we see your darkest pair of glasses?"

"Right this way sir," She paused for a second. "Is there something wrong with your son?"

I held my breath for a second. I wouldn't have to look up, would I? Luckily, my dad had it covered. "He's just really shy. C'mon Adam. Say hi to the nice lady."

"Hi," I said quietly.

She didn't reply. We just started walking again. "These are the darkest pair we have," she eventually said. "I'm not sure if you could even see the person's eyes if they were wearing these."

"We'll take them," my dad told her.

After my dad paid, we walked back to the car. When we were both inside, my dad handed me a bag. "Put them on Adam," he stated. I took out what was in the bag; a pair of pitch black sunglasses. I slipped them on. Alright, everything was darker. How is this supposed to help me ?

"Adam, look at me," my dad said.

Was he crazy? I shook my head. "I don't want to do something to you."

"Adam, please?"

"Nuh uh."

"Adam, trust me. Just look up."

I gave in. I looked up, waiting for my nightmare to come to life. But it didn't. My dad just looked me in the eye and smiled. Wait, he looked me in the eye! "You're okay!"

He gave me a hug. "It worked!" He got out of the car and opened my door, "Adam, I think it's time that you finally see the world."

I jumped out of the car and looked around at the street. Cars were going back and forth, people were walking or talking on phones, and there were a couple trees in between shops. I looked at my dad and hugged him. "It's even better than it is on TV!"

My dad smiled at me. "Welcome to the normal world Adam."


	7. Chapter 7

**(Okay, first off I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING! I have two reasons why:**

**1\. Exams are coming up for me and it seems like all I have time for is studying at the moment.**

**2\. I've been really nervous to post this chapter. It has something a little different than what you're probably used to. Also it gets kind of dark at the end. I'm just afraid that people won't like it. So please keep an open mind as you're reading.**

**Again, sorry for not updating and for rambling in this A/N. You may read on now.)**

_[Mitch's POV]_

I sat on the plane, anxiously waiting to take off. My mom and I were going to Barbados to celebrate my fifth birthday with family. My mom and I live in New York and the tickets are expensive, so I never get to see them. But this was my mom's present to me, and I was planning to take full advantage of it.

I heard the jets start and within moments we were heading off the ground. I stared out the window until we were above the clouds. I looked back over at my mom. "I can't wait until we get there!"

She ruffled my hair and grinned. "You know it's going to take a while Mitch. We still have to go to Atlanta and catch our flight there. And that plane ride is about three hours."

I was practically bouncing in my seat now. "Does it have to take that long? I really want to see everyone! Can we ask the guy up front if he can go faster?"

My mom chuckled. "I'm sure he's going as fast as he can Mitch. We'll just have to be patient." I leaned on her shoulder and imagined me playing with my cousins on the beach. I smiled at the thought.

"Mitch," my mom said, "there's something else I want to give you." I sat up while she rummaged through her purse. She handed me a small wrapped box. I turned it around in my hands, trying to figure out what it was. My mom held it still. "Open it Mitch."

I tore off the paper and opened the box. Inside were two golden dog tags with my name on it. "This is awesome!" I slipped them over my head. "Thanks mom!"

My mom gave me a small hug. "I'm glad you like them Mitch, but they aren't from me."

I took the dog tags off to look at them closer. "If they're not from you, then who are they from?"

"These are from your dad." I froze for a second. My dad wasn't something my mom like to talk about. I've never seen pictures or heard stories or even been told his name. As far as I know, he doesn't even have family I could ask. Whenever I tried to ask my mom about him, she'd just get teary-eyed and say she'd tell me later. He was nothing but a mystery to me.

"Dad wanted to give these to me?'

"Yes Mitch. He did." Tears filled my mom's eyes again. "I wasn't going to tell you anything until you were older, but now just seemed like the right time. Your father and I were just married when we found out we were expecting to have a baby. We were overjoyed. But then something came up in your father's business and he had to leave. Right after you were born he left."

"He just… left us?" I asked.

"No, it's not like that Mitch." Her focus shifted back to the dog tags. "Those tags were his, and he had your name engraved on them. The day he left he asked me to give them to you when I felt the time was right." Her eyes were locked on the dog tags. "Mitch, please don't be mad at your dad for leaving. He had a good reason, I promise."

"What?"

"I can't tell you." That was the end of that conversation. Neither of us said a word after that. I looked down at the dog tags. A reminder that my dad just left my mom to take care of me on her own. She had a hard time between taking me to school and working and being home to take care of me. But where ever my dad was, he probably didn't care. I wish I could throw the dog tags out the window and never see them again. I didn't want them if they were from him.

A shiver went up my spine. Man, this plane was cold! "Mom, can I have my hoodie?" She nodded and handed me the black and red checkerboard fuzzy hoodie that I loved so much. I put it on and curled up in my chair. Eventually my eyes closed and I fell asleep, the dog tags still clutched in my hand.

* * *

"Mitch! MITCH!" I opened my eyes to see black smoke surrounding me and flames in the distance. The plane seemed to be tilted forward. My mom was shaking me, looking panicked. "Get up, the plane is on fire! We have to get out of here!"

She dragged me out of my seat and got us both in the line of coughing people walking towards the exit. "The fire's by the exit!" someone screamed. "We're trapped!"

A million people started crying, including me. We were going to die. I wouldn't get to see my family ever again. My mom leaned down and hugged me, tears streaming down her face. "I love you Mitch," she whispered. "Please never forget that." I hugged her back. I didn't want to let go.

I looked behind her, and I saw a man with a blue shirt and pure white glowing eyes smiling at me. "See ya soon," he said to me. Then everything went black.

* * *

I woke up in an entirely black room lying on the floor. I pushed myself up and looked around. There wasn't anything around me. I couldn't even tell if the room ended. I rubbed the back of my head. What happened? Then I remembered. The plane. "Am I dead?" I wondered out loud.

A voice spoke from a distance. "No Mitchell, I can assure you that you're very much alive."

I looked around in alarm. "Who's there?"

A man stepped out of the darkness. The man from the plane. He smirked. "Good to see you again Mitchell." I backed away from him. "Now now, I'm just here to help. I'm Herobrine." He extended his hand for me to shake. I just stood there.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking around to see if something had changed. Nothing had of course.

"Nowhere." he responded. Nowhere? Is that even possible? I guess Herobrine saw that I was confused, because he explained. "Nowhere is a rip in time and space where things are and things aren't. Understand?" I shook my head. That just made me even more confused. He sighed. "You'll learn, you'll learn. Now on to more important matters, may I have the dog tags Mitchell?"

I opened my right hand and stared at the golden tags. How did I still have these? Herobrine snatched them out of my hand and shoved them in his pocket. "Now, I suppose you want to get out of nowhere?" I nodded. "Very well." He snapped his fingers and suddenly we were in a different place.

"This is one of the hospitals in North Carolina," Herobrine explained. "No one here can see or hear us, understand?" I nodded. "Follow me." We walked up several flights of stairs and into one of the rooms. Inside there was a doctor and a nurse talking. "Listen," Herobrine commanded.

"Any good news on any of the patients?" the nurse asked.

The doctor shook his head sadly. "Not one of them even has a trace of a heartbeat."

The nurse sighed. "It's a shame. Some of them were just little kids with their whole lives ahead of them."

"The inspector is coming over later to identify the bodies. At least they'll be able to have a proper burial."

"Do they have any leads on the plane crash itself?"

The doctor lowered his voice to a whisper. "There was a bloody knife on the floor. They can only guess that the pilot was stabbed by one of the passengers." Then they walked out of the room, talking about the crash in hushed voices.

Herobrine gestured for me to follow again. We walked to the back of the room and he pulled back the curtain, revealing a little boy with light brown hair, skin that was somewhat charred, and a black and red hoodie wrapped around him. "Is that… me?" Herobrine didn't respond. Not that he needed to. But if I'm here, then where's my mom? I turned around and glared at Herobrine. "Well?!" I practically screamed. "Where is she?!"

Herobrine just walked out the room, me trailing behind. We walked up more stairs and into another room. He stood by the curtain, and looked at me with his blank white eyes. "Pull it back."

I stepped forward and tugged the curtain, and saw my mom lying there dead. I immediately broke down in tears. The world faded around me and we were back in nowhere. Herobrine put a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay Mitchell."

"No!" I screamed hysterically. "It's not okay! My mom is dead!"

"She knew she was going to die Mitchell," Herobrine said calmly. "She also knew that you were going to live. You know why? Because you're part of something greater. You will help me rule another world. Now rise!"

* * *

I opened my eyes and groaned. For a second I didn't know where I was or what happened. I looked around and saw the hospital room that Herobrine had shown me. Everything was the same. I sat in the hospital bed, gathering my thoughts for a second. Then realization hit me like a brick. My mom was dead. Everyone on that plane was dead. That is, except for me. And Herobrine I guess. But how was I alive?

I tried to push myself out of the bed, but I was stopped by a tube taped to my wrist and going to a monitor. I yanked it out from under the… blue hoodie I was wearing? What?

I walked over to a mirror and looked at myself in shock. The first thing I noticed was that my eyes were glowing a menacing white. My hoodie was teal and my hair had turned a dark brown. And despite the the fact that I was in a fire, my face and arms didn't show a trace of scars of burn marks of even char. Light reflected off my chest, bringing my attention to the dog tags. I was about to ask myself how it got there, but at this point my mind could barely process anything. I took the tags off and stared at them. They had four pictures on them, one on each side. One was a stick with fire coming out of it, on the other side there was some TNT. On the second one there was a sword and an axe, and the word BajanBrine.

I flipped back to the side with a sword and rubbed the picture, feeling the crevices in the tag. Suddenly, the dog tags disappeared and were replaced by a blue sword with a purple glow around it. I gasped and almost dropped it out of my hands. But either way the tip did hit the floor and made a loud _thump._

"Hello?" a female voice called from outside the door. "Is anyone in here?" She opened the door and screamed at me standing there. "Who are you?!"

I didn't think after that. I just started sprinting the other way. I heard voices in the background, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. I was locked on running away from the growing crowd of voices behind me. I leaped at the window that was in the room, shattering it and sending me flying. I didn't realize what I was doing until I was hurtling towards the ground. I just jumped out a window that was on the twentieth floor or something! What was wrong with me?! I covered my eyes with my hands and screamed. In my mind I wondered what death would feel like. My guess is that it would probably hurt a lot. But after awhile, I didn't feel any pain. I slowly uncovered one eye to see that I stopped falling and was still a foot off the sight shocked me so much that I stopped floating and dropped the rest of the way. "Did I just fly?" I asked myself, pushing myself up.

I stared at my reflection in the window I was in front of. I still looked the same. I sigh. At least the sword had turned back into my dog tags. But how did dog tags turn into a sword anyways? I shook my head "I just jumped out a window and started flying. I should stop questioning things," I mumble.

I looked at the tags. Since it was night and the only light was a streetlight, it was hard to see. But I could still just barely make out the word 'BajanBrine'. I ran my fingers over it, the the word changed. It said 'Mitch' again. I stood there shocked for a second, then looked at my hoodie. It was back to normal. I glanced at my reflection in the window. I looked normal again! I wasn't even hurt from the crash!

Police sirens sounded in the distance. I turned around and saw the lights flash. I considered waiting until they came, but I started walking the opposite way. I couldn't talk to anyone. Not after what just happened.

* * *

I wasn't really thinking while I was walking. I just pushed myself forward until I became so tired that I had to stop. I sat down by a lone tree and looked around at where I was. It was daytime, so that just shows how long I was just walking. The place I had walked into was a small rundown neighborhood, with small houses barely a foot apart from each other and graffiti covering them.

"Hey, kid!" I looked at a tall teenager who called me. He looked at me with a mischievous grin. Two other huge kids joined him. "Why don'tcha come over for a sec?" I stood up again and tried to walk away, but they ran after me. "Hey, c'mon now kid! We just wanna talk."

The other two kids grabbed my hoodie and dragged me behind one of the houses. I flailed around trying to free myself. "Let go of me!"

They all chuckled. "You're not from around here, are ya kid?" Then he punched me in the nose and pulled me close to his face. "What kinda money do ya have kid? We want all of it. Now."

"I don't have any money," I snapped, making him knee me in the ribs. The two that were holding me threw me against the wall.

"Don't lie kid," the main guy growled. "I see that gold around your neck. That's gotta be worth a fortune! Now hand it over and we'll let you go."

I gripped the tags protectively and closed my eyes. "G-get away." I said in a last attempt make them leave.

They just laughed. "Whatcha gonna do kid? Cry for your mommy? I bet she's a drunk, letting a little kid out here on his own."

Rage boiled inside of me. How dare they talk about my mother that way! "Get away!" I screamed again.

I heard screams then the sound of people running. Then silence. I was almost afraid to open my eyes. When I did, I instantly regretted it. In my hand was a glowing blue axe, and the blade was in the head of the guy who was taunting me. Blood streamed down his face. I killed him. The thought hit me hard. I killed someone. Me. Sure, he was trying to rob me, but that didn't mean I shoulder killed him.

The axe turned back into my dog tags as I stared at the body. I only had one solution: run. So I did. No where in particular. Just away. Away from my dead mom, away from Herobrine, away from what I just did, away from everything. I will never go back. And I'm not sure if I'll ever stop running.


	8. Chapter 8

_[Ty's POV]_

It was hectic at my house on the first day of school. My mom was yelling at everyone to get ready, trying to make everyone lunches (except me of course), and then finally tried to tackle the challenge of my hair. I screamed as she pulled the brush through it. It felt like she was going to pull the hair right off my head. "Ty, one day I'm going to shave this head of yours!" she said as she yanked the brush down again.

"You don't _have _to brush it!" I whined.

"I wouldn't have to brush it if you had short hair."

"But I look bad with short hair!"

"Tyler, you've never had short hair in your life. Now go get your clothes on. And I swear if you come out of your room again with that headset, it's going straight in the trash!"

I sigh as I walk to my room. It's not my fault that the headset is the last thing I have to remember my dad by. When he left for a trip two years ago, he never came back. The plane crashed down in the ocean. According to the news no one survived that they found. Ever since then I wore the headset everywhere. It obviously embarrassed my mom. She hates my headset almost as much as she hates me, and that's saying a lot.

I changed my clothes and slipped my headset in my backpack where my mom wouldn't see it. I'd put it on once I got to school.

A small knock came from outside my door. "Can I come in Ty?" Natalie whispered. Ever since I came back from the dragon's lair, she's been super nice to me. She helped me when I was frustrated and played with me when I was lonely. When dad died, she was the only one who comforted me.

Anyway, Natalie walked into my room and plopped herself down on my bed. "Are you ready for your first day of kindergarten Ty?" I shook my head. "Why not? It's loads of fun!"

"I'm just afraid that no one will like me," I say to the floor.

Natalie punched me lightly on the shoulder. "Hey, you'll make some friends. I was scared too at first. But I got there and I loved it!"

"Yeah, but people here already liked you."

She stood up and gave me a hug. "Ty, I don't know why mom, Caleb, Kylee and Jamie don't like you. But just because don't like you doesn't mean other people won't."

"Natalie, Ty! We need to get going!" my mom screamed from the kitchen.

Natalie zipped up my backpack and put it on my back. "C'mon. I'll walk you to your classroom."

* * *

After the awkward fifteen minute car ride of everyone else talking about school and me staring out the window in the back, we finally arrived. The twins, Kylee and Jamie, hopped out of the car first, mom trying to hug them as they headed off to their fifth grade class. Natalie helped me out next. My mom kissed Natalie goodbye then glared at me. "You better not get into any trouble Ty. Got it?"

I nodded then she drove away. I turned around and stared at the building. It's a lot bigger then I remember. Was it always this big? It seemed like a giant brick monster, ready to swallow me up. A cold shiver went down my spine. I looked at Natalie. "I don't wanna go inside," I stated.

She just chuckled and took my hand. "Ty, I promise it'll be okay. The school isn't really that scary. Here," she reached into my backpack and slipped the headset on me. "Maybe this will help."

I smiled at the familiar weight on my head. "Well, it helps a little."

"So are you ready to go in now?"

"Nuh uh."

She started dragging me towards the door. "Well, too bad. You don't have a choice."

Natalie led me down long hallways until we got to a door at the end of one. The wooden door was open with a sign above it that read 'Welcome to Kindergarten!'

I glanced at Natalie. "Do I really need to go in?"

She smiled and squeezed my hand. "You'll be fine." She led me into the room, which had six round tables, a carpet and whiteboard in the corner, baskets of toys and walls covered with cheesy posters. A couple kids were playing with the toys, but other than that and a cheery woman with short brown hair the room was vacant.

The woman finally spotted me and Natalie. A huge smile spread across her face. "Natalie! How are you?" She walked over to us.

Natalie returned the smile. "I'm doing great Mrs. Diaz. I'm just dropping off my brother before I go to the third grade room."

Mrs. Diaz bent down to my height and smiled. "Hi there! What's your name?"

"Ty." I said quietly.

"Well Ty, I think you're gonna like it here. We do lots of fun things!" She glanced at my headset. "But I'm afraid that your sister is gonna have to take that so it doesn't get broken, okay?"

I grabbed the headset protectively and shook my head. "N-no!"

Natalie put a hand on my shoulder. "Sorry Mrs. Diaz." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Our dad gave it to him before he died. It gives him comfort."

Mrs. Diaz nodded understandingly. "I see. Well Ty, you can wear the headphones, but you can't take them off. Alright?" I nodded.

Natalie gave me a quick hug then headed off to her class. Mrs. Diaz told me I could do whatever I wanted to until class started, which was in in ten minutes. I thought about playing with the other kids, but I chickened out. Why did I have to be so shy!? I finally settled on coloring at a table by myself.

I watched as kids came into the classroom then immediately went over to the toy area, completely ignoring me. I counted about fourteen of them who did that. Class started in a couple minutes, and according to Mrs. Diaz there was only one kid missing. He walked in with his parents about a minute after she said that.

The kid had wavy brown hair and green eyes. He wore a space shirt and couldn't look more excited about coming to school. He hugged his mom and dad goodbye and I looked back down at my paper, expecting to walk right past me like all the rest. But he didn't. Instead he plopped himself in the chair right next to me. "Hi!"

I glanced at him. "Hi."

"I'm Jason! What's your name?"

"Ty."

"Whatcha drawing?"

"Something." I was actually drawing me and Natalie with my dad hugging us.

"It looks cool!" Jason commented.

"Thanks."

"You don't like to talk much, do you?" I shrugged in reply.

"Alright, kids!" Mrs. Diaz called from across the room. "Time to start class! Put all the toys away!"

I shoved my crayons and paper into my backpack and walked over to the carpet, Jason trailing behind me.

_-Timeskip to after class cuz I'm pretty sure we all went to kindergarten-_

After Mrs. Diaz finished reading the book during story time (it was about some kid named David and how he had a problem with cleaning his room. Seriously? You think that's a problem? Try having wings and a tail), she told us it was time to go play outside. I headed out along with the twenty other kids in my class.

We were the only class outside, so everyone rushed to the playground, excited that they wouldn't have to wait for the big kids to play. I just plopped myself on the grass and watched the others. After a while, Jason walked over and sat next to me. "Do you want to come play with us Ty?"

"No thanks. I'm a little shy."

"Oh. Okay."

I thought he would go back to the other kids, but he stayed right next to me. "Aren't you gonna go and play?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "I don't wanna just leave you alone. You might be shy, but no one likes to be alone."

"You can leave. It's okay. I'm used to being alone anyways."

He looked at me with concern. "Is that why you're so sad?"

"What?"

"I don't know. You just always look kinda sad."

I took off my headset and started playing with it. "My dad died in a plane crash and my family doesn't like me. I just feel worthless."

Jason stared at me. "Wow. Why doesn't your family like you?"

I shrugged. "I've been trying to figure that out myself."

"Well, I sorta understand how you feel to have someone you love die," he said.

"How? You were with your parents earlier."

He shook his head. "I'm adopted. Both of my parents died two years ago. Kelly found me and took me in." A tear rolled down his cheek. "I love Kelly and Dan, but they're always really busy and don't have a lot of time for playing with me. I miss my real mom and dad."

I hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder. "I guess we're both alone in a way."

Jason smiled gratefully. "Do you think we can be friends so we're both less alone?"

I shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"Okay then…" He poked me in the arm. "Tag, you're it!" He ran to the playground.

I smirked and ran after him. "Hey! Get back here!"

* * *

I played with Jason the rest of the day and we became pretty close. I even let him wear my headset. When the school day ended, Jason and I kept playing while we waited for our parents to get to the classroom.

"Jason!" A woman walked over and hugged him.

He hugged her back. "Hi Kelly! This is my friend Ty." I waved shyly. "Can we have him over sometime?" Jason asked.

Kelly smiled. "Sure. I'll talk to his mom about getting you two together. But I need to get back to the university now. C'mon Jason."

Jason grabbed her hand as she led him out. He turned around and waved to me, "Bye Ty! See ya tomorrow!"

I waved back and watched them walk away. Then I was alone again. I sighed and went back to my drawing. It'd be awhile until Natalie would show up. I finished my drawing when I felt a hand on my shoulder. "That's an awesome picture Ty."

I smiled at my sister. "Thanks. It's you, me, and dad." I picked it up and handed it to her. "Here. I made it for you."

She hugged me and took the drawing. "Thanks Ty. I know just where I'll put it. We should get going. Mom's probably waiting for us outside." We said goodbye to Mrs. Diaz and walked out of the room. "So how was your first day of school Ty?" She asked as we walked.

"It was great," I responded immediately.

She nudged me in the shoulder. "See? I told you would like school. Did you make any friends?"

"Yeah! His name is Jason and he's really nice. His mom said that we could play together sometime."

"That's awesome Ty."

A car beeped in the parking lot. "Ty! Natalie! Let's go!" Mom of course.

We got in the car and squeezed in the back. People talked about their days at school and I stared out the window again. "Ty made a friend!" Natalie randomly announced.

Caleb laughed. "Please. Ty, making friends? No one likes him. Even if he did make any friends, they're either fake or paid to do it." Everyone in the car laughed except me and Natalie.

"Jason is too my friend!" I snapped. "He said so himself!"

Caleb leaned over to Jamie. "Yep. Definitely fake."

Natalie patted my shoulder. "It's okay Ty. As long as you know Jason's your friend."

I grinned. Yeah. As long as I know Jason is my friend, what do I care what my family thinks. I'm just glad I have a friend.

**(This isn't my best work DX. Sorry about that. It's just a little filler and a bit rushed. But hey, Ty and Jason met! Yay :D) **


	9. Chapter 9

_[Jerome's POV]_

I swung in the trees, heading towards my favorite river. It was about three miles southwest from my tree house and had the best fish in Canada. Mmm... sweet, juicy, delectable fish...

I went into a trance while fantasizing about the fish I was going to eat and pretty much stopped paying attention to where I was swinging. Because I was so careless, I didn't notice the collar of my suit got stuck on a branch until it about half choked me to death when I jumped forward. "Agh! Seriously? Again?" I cut myself free using my stone axe and fell to the ground. "This wouldn't happen if I could just wear a simple shirt. Why can't I do that?"

I knew very well why. Every bacca knows. It's because we baccas have traditions that we've stuck to since the beginning of time. We wear suits, eat raw food, live alone at an early age, only use axes, and a bunch of other things. No bacca would dare break tradition, mainly because that bacca would be shunned by everyone else. Then again, even if a bacca did break tradition, there wouldn't be many baccas to shun him/her for it. According to the elders, a thousand years ago there was a huge war between baccas and humans. I have no clue why. No one would tell me. But I did know that it was devastating for the baccas. They robbed us of all our best weaponry, burned our homes, and killed off 90% of the population, forcing the rest of us into hiding. And if that wasn't offensive enough, they completely forgot about us, ya know, except for that 'Chewbacca' guy. What a low blow. So long story short, all baccas resent humans. Although, I have heard that...

I shook my head in an attempt to focus. I was getting way off track. Climbing back up the tree, I started heading towards the river again. "I really need that fish."

* * *

Finally! I can see the river in the distance. I was about fifty feet away from all that raw fish! I was about to sprint towards it, but I hesitated when I saw that something else was already there, and it was definitely not another bacca. I held my breath. _A human. A real human_.

I inched towards the human but stayed hidden in the trees. I just wanted to get a better look. Sure, I may have heard about humans, but I've never seen one before. The human didn't look fully grown, so I assume that it's just a kid. It was definitely a boy. He wore a coat and something shiny around his neck. He bent down to get some water and I tried to get even closer. But I was sloppy with my footing and fell to the ground with a thud behind some bushes

The boy whipped his head in my direction. "W-who's there?" I didn't respond, but I repositioned myself so I could see him through the leaves. He rubbed the shiny thing around his neck and the next thing I know he's holding an axe. Wait, what?

"Come out! I'm not afraid of you!" He called out. But I was too distracted by the axe to be threatened. It was a sort of blue, and a glow surrounded it. An enchanted diamond axe. But how? No baccas have even seen a diamond axe since the war. And humans don't use axes anyways. Could this human possibly be a Man of the Bac? The Man of the Bac is an old legend that says that there are still humans out there who follow the bacca way. But everyone was convinced they were all gone. Yet one was right in front... hey! He's gone! Where did he go?

The next thing I know something fell from the trees and on top of me, pinning me to the ground. The kid. He put the axe next to my face. "Who are you?" He demanded. Then he looked me up and down. "What are you?"

I sighed. Typical human. If I really wanted to, I could probably take him down in a fight and get out of this situation. But I couldn't let myself do it. Not when he's possibly the last Man of the Bac alive. "I'm Jerome," I told him. "And I'm a bacca."

"A what?"

I rolled my eyes. "Bacca. B-A-C-C-A. And before you say anything, no it's not wookie. It's bacca. Now who are you?"

His grip loosened just a bit on me. "Mitch."

"Why are you way out here in the forest and not with other humans?"

Tears started to form in his eyes, but he quickly blinked them away. "Who's supposed to be asking the questions here?" I didn't expect him to respond, but he did. "I came here to get away."

"From what?"

"If you don't make me tell you, I'll get off you."

"Just like that?" I asked him skeptically. "You aren't gonna kill me for being a strange creature?"

He shrugged. "No. Why? Should I?"

"No! I mean, it just doesn't seem very human of you."

Of all the things he could've said, I didn't expect him to say what he said next. I thought he would just fire back with an insult, but he just said, "I don't even know if I am human anymore." He got off of me and then helped me up. "Sorry to bother you," he said. "I'll just go."

Before he could walk away, I put my hand on his shoulder. "No! You should stay with me."

Mitch looked at me with a puzzled look on his face. "Why? I'm not good for anything."

Answer. I need an answer. Anything but straight up telling him he's a Man of the Bac. Think Jerome, think! "I... well... I've been all by myself since I was two, and I think it'd be nice to have someone to talk to." It's not completely a lie. I have been alone since I was two, but baccas don't need to see anyone. In fact we isolate ourselves from everyone. But I need this kid Mitch on my side.

Mitch thought, then shrugged. "Sure. Not like I have anywhere else to go."

I gave him a warm smile. "Great! Just give me a sec to grab some fish and then we can go back to my tree house."

I knelt down next to the river bank and grabbed some fish when they swam by. Mitch crouched down next to me and drank more water. After I had caught a fair amount of the fish, I sat down and started to eat. Mitch gave me a weird look. "Aren't you gonna cook that first?"

I fake gagged. "Blagh! No! I don't understand why you humans take perfectly good food then waste time and energy just to make it terrible."'

Once I had finally finished, I headed back towards the trees. "You coming?" I called back to Mitch. He nodded and climbed up the tree with me. As I swung, he kept up with me pretty well. Impressive.

After awhile, I felt his hand on my shoulder. I looked back to see that he was breathing really heavily. "Jerome, *pant* how much, *pant* further?"

"Just a couple more miles." I replied. He groaned. "C'mon. Quit whining." I started dragging him across the branches while he tried to regain control. This kid better be worth the trouble.

* * *

Finally we reached the tallest tree in the forest. That's where I lived. I started climbing up, Mitch not too far behind me. I pushed open the small trapdoor and climbed into my tree house.

I pulled Mitch in and his eyes widened. "Wow. This is awesome."

I guess my tree-house is pretty nice. I built it myself after all. The main room had a couple beanbags sitting by a fireplace and some bags stuffed with leaves so I could practice my fighting. In another corner there are a bunch of chests I use for storing food and materials and such. I also have every axe I've ever owned on one wall. In another room I have a bed too.

I walked over to the wall of axes and hung up the stone axe. Mitch just stood there awkwardly. "So, you gonna tell me anything about yourself?" I asked him. His face suddenly drained of all color. "Sorry," I quickly said, "is it a bad subject?"

"N-nah," he said unconvincingly, "About five months ago, my mom died in a plane crash, and-" He just froze. He wouldn't say another word.

"You've been on the run ever since?" I finished.

He nodded. "Yeah. That."

"What about the diamond axe? That was really awesome! Where did it go anyways?"

His face morphed into a panicked one. "I-I don't like to talk about it. Is there a place where I can take a nap? I haven't slept well in months."

I pointed to the door behind me. "In there there's a bed. You can sleep there I guess. I'll just be out here practicing fighting."

He headed towards my bedroom. "Thanks Jerome," he said. Then he disappeared into the room.

I took a fresh stone axe off the wall and started beating up the bags while thinking. What was so traumatizing that Mitch couldn't talk about? It has to do something with the axe. Maybe he knows something about him being a Man of the Bac. That would explain why he didn't immediately kill me earlier. But then he surely would've said something, right? I took out my frustrations on the poor bags, which were torn to shreds after a while. I _will _get answers out of this kid eventually.


	10. Chapter 10

**(Just an FYI, this chapter takes place in Bulgaria. So pretend that everyone is speaking Bulgarian. And now you know who the chapter is about :) Enjoy)**

_[Martin's POV]_

"Martin! Give it back!"

I ran away from the enraged Simon, who was chasing me around the old playground because I hid his chocolate bar. Simon yelled at me the entire time. I just laughed. I did this all the time, and I found it quite hilarious. Last week, I hid his homework in his dresser, and he just about had a heart attack. It was great!

Anyways, Simon finally got me cornered against the orphanage wall. "Give me back my chocolate Martin!" He screamed.

I gave him my classic troll smirk. "Why do you think I have it? I don't."

I laughed as realization dawned on him. "BAKI!" He stormed up to Baki and my room, me trailing behind him. He smashed open the door to reveal a pale kid sitting in the dark reading a book. "Where is it Baki?!" Simon demanded.

Baki only glanced up from his book. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

Simon frowned and snatched the book out of his hands. "Aha!" He held the chocolate up triumphantly as Baki and I doubled over laughing.

"Man, you should've seen your face! It was great!" Baki commented, when we finally calmed down.

"Ten outta ten!" I replied.

Simon ripped open the wrapper and shoved the chocolate into his mouth. "Yeah yeah, ha ha ha ha," he said in between bites. "One day I'll get you two back."

I patted him on the shoulder. "Whatever you say man. I'll believe it when it happens."

The bell rang, signaling that our next class was gonna start in five minutes. "C'mon guys," I walked out of the room. "Gym unfortunately awaits us."

* * *

To make a long story short, Simon, Baki and I aren't the most athletic kids in the orphanage. Actually, that's an understatement. We are the most unathletic kids in prison. Oh, sorry. I mean "Happy Days Bulgarian Home for Orphans". What a stupid name. Happy Days is an ancient brick building that hasn't been updated since the 1800s. Bricks are falling off, the wooden playground is rotting away, and the food tastes and looks like it was from the same time the building was built. The name is ironic too, considering that a happy day in Happy Days is a day when I don't get noticed by Jared, word class jerk. And I've only had one of those days since I was born, and that was because he got food poisoning on an interview day (food poisoning is very common here, but the manager doesn't was the feds to know about it. At least that's what I heard).

But getting back on topic, in gym the new teacher, Mrs. Craw (she looks as terrifying as the name sounds), made us run laps. So the rest of the class actually tried to run the ten laps while Simon, Baki, and I walked the gym and talked. At the moment we were having a nice conversation about what the budget must be for this place.

"I'm just saying," Baki said, "the people who run this place must not get a lot of money. Why else would they serve expired food and not fix the broken wooden playground?"

"The same reason that our rooms all have broken old furniture, teachers that hate kids, and they don't try to get people to come here and adopt us; they want us to have the most miserable lives on planet earth." I replied.

"I heard that they really do make a lot of money, but everything goes to the management and nothing to improving the orphanage." Simon commented.

Baki shrugged. "Makes sense. It sounds like the kind of greedy thing they would do."

Mrs. Craw growled. "HEY! Short, Pale, Stupid! I don't see running over there! Ten more laps for you three, and actually running!"

"But Mrs. Craw-"

"Fifty push up for back talk too! Now chop chop!"

We started jogging around the gym, but we did it slow enough that we could still talk. "Does she _have_ to call me short?" Simon mumbled angrily. "I hate being called short."

"But you are short," I quipped.

He punched me in the arm. "Shut up Martin. At least I'm not being called stupid a teacher."

I grit my teeth. "I couldn't find the hockey stuff one time, and she thinks I'm stupid. If she hadn't hidden them so weirdly..."

"Calm down you two," Baki interrupted. "You don't think I'm mad that she calls me pale? Well, I am. But we can't do anything about it. So..." He did his best impression of Mrs. Craw. "Chop chop Short and Stupid." We both slapped him as he laughed. "Seriously, let's just get this over with, before she decides to give us more laps."

* * *

It only took the rest of the class, but we finished. Sure, we could barely breathe and I felt like both my arms and legs were going to fall off, but it's over.

"Hey! Martin!" Never mind. Here comes Jared. He shoved me into the gym lockers. "You're a nerd, right?" He shoved a notebook into my arms. "This history project is due on Thursday. Do it. No lower then an A minus. Got it?"

I glared at him. "You're in seventh grade. I'm seven. Why don't you do your own homework?"

He kneed me in the stomach. "Watch your mouth. You're smart, and smart people do well in class. And I've been having you do my stuff for so long, the teachers are used to your handwriting being mine. So if you don't do it, they'll say I'm cheating and I'll fail. And if I fail, I get angry. And who do I take out my anger on?" He jabbed a finger to my chest. "This guy. Understand now?" I nodded resentfully. He finally backed away from me. "Good. Remember, here Thursday." Then he strolled out of the locker room with his friends.

As soon as he left, Simon and Baki came out of hiding. "Thanks for helping me with Jared guys." I said sarcastically.

"Sorry Martin," Baki said, putting his hands up. "But we figured that one half dead person is better than three."

Simon nodded. "That guy is so big, he'd beat us all up without breaking a sweat."

The bell rang again. "Crap!" Simon started sprinting towards the door. His next class was all the way across the orphanage, and the teachers do not tolerate tardiness. Baki and I walked behind him. Our math class was right nextdoor, so we weren't in much of a rush. But as soon as Simon opened the door, Jared tripped him. His papers scattered everywhere, and Jared just laughed.

"See you later shorty," he taunted as he walked away.

Simon pushed himself up while Baki and I picked up his stuff. "I'm not short," he mumbled.

"Why does he have to do this to us everyday?" Baki asked, handing Simon back his stuff. "It's not like we did anything to him."

"I don't know, but I'm gonna get him back for it this time." I told them.

Baki sighed. "Martin, you say that every time Jared bullies us. You always chicken out. Let's just get to class."

So Simon rushed off to his class and Baki and I walked into the math classroom. Because the orphanage is small, kids of all ages are in one class. In my math class, we have first, third, and fourth graders. It came with advantages in a way. Now I can do pretty much anything at an eighth grade level just from listening to the other grades in class. That's why Jared always makes me do his homework. That would be the disadvantage.

The teacher was talking about multiplication, but I wasn't listening. I was too busy making my master plan of revenge. I won't chicken out this time.

* * *

I woke up early the next day so I could put my plan into action. It was about 1 AM. I tiptoed out of the room so I wouldn't wake up Baki, then headed towards the cafeteria. There probably would be security people wandering the halls, so I had to be really careful, or else I'd be sent to Mr. Smith, the manager. If anyone broke the rules, they would go into his office and never come out. So I heard. But I don't want to find out if that's true or not.

Sneaking around turned out to be surprisingly easy. I only heard someone else walking down the hall once, and I just had to duck into a bathroom. So I got to the cafeteria in a matter of three minutes. I opened the door into the kitchen and looked around. There was what I think is clam chowder from yesterday, but it was a weird green color that I don't think occurs in nature. Perfect. Then I took out the paint I had smuggled out of the art room and the quick-dry cement (I swear, they put the most money into the art class for some reason. Why not edible food?!) then poured it into the bucket with the chowder. The paint would stain whatever it got on, I know from experience. The cement was just so it'd be thicker and hard to get off.

I thought about what else I could do to poor Jared. I got it! The hot dogs! They were from last year and still sitting on the counter, but no one had bothered to take care of them. They had gotten all moldy and smelly. So I used a knife and chopped them into pieces. The smell filled the room in seconds. I thought I was gonna throw up. But eventually I got the job done and put the tiny chunks into the bucket with the rest of the stuff. Then I tied a small white rope around it. I made sure it was secure then walked back into the cafeteria. There was a hole in the ceiling by the door, so I put the bucket in the hole with the help of several chairs, then led the rope over to my spot at the first grade table. I smirked to myself. I've never been so excited for a lunch in my life.

I sneaked back to my room and jumped back into bed. The clock said 1:36. Only eleven hours to go.

* * *

Lunch couldn't come fast enough. I did nothing but stare at the clock for the first four hours of the day, endured so bullying from Jared in between (I gave him back his project too. In my handwriting and with my name at the top that is. Duo revenge for me).

Finally, the hour came. The lunch hour of legends. I practically sprinted to the cafeteria. I got my lunch and sat down at my spot, the white rope in my hand. Then I stared at the door, waiting for Jared.

Simon and Baki sat next to me. "Why are you staring at the door Martin?" Simon asked.

"No reason," I responded.

Baki looked at the rope in my hand. "What's that for?"

"You'll see."

They looked at each other, then started picking at their food.

Five minutes later, I heard Jared and his friends from down the hallway. My grip tightened on the rope. This is it. Jared started walking through the door and I yanked the rope. My mixture fell onto him, covering him almost head to toe with chunky smelly red cement. Some even got on his friends. Bonus.

Jared and his friends screamed while everyone in the cafeteria laughed. Jared took a step forward and slipped, making everyone laugh harder. If I could see his face, I'm pretty sure it'd be a deep red.

A teacher wandered in to see what the commotion was about. She saw Jared and sent him and his friends to their rooms to clean up because she said that they smell like rotting fish in the sun. That made everyone laugh even harder. Jared and his friends walked out knowing a new feeling: humiliation. I think I even heard one kid yell, "Now you how we feel!"

Once everyone had calmed down, everyone started whispering about who might have done that. It could've been anyone. Pretty much everyone had been a victim of Jared at one point or another. I threw the rope across the cafeteria to get rid of the evidence. Simon and Baki smiled. "How'd you do it Martin?" Simon asked.

I smirked. "As far as you know, I didn't do it."

Baki laughed. "Yeah well whoever did it should do it more often. Pranks, I mean. And maybe whoever did it might want two sidekicks."

"Yeah," I responded. "That person just might like that. It seems like fun after all." We all high fived.

"That person is gonna be a pain in the butt," Simon commented.

I laughed. "Just call him Bodil (cactus or thorn in Bulgarian, in case you didn't know)."

Baki rubbed his hands together like an evil scientist. "Well, Mr. Bodil, life at Happy Days just got a lot more interesting."


	11. Chapter 11

_[Martin's POV]_

The next few weeks were what I like to call 'The Rise of Bodil'. Simon, Baki and I pulled pranks non-stop. Some were just innocent, others were really bad for the victim (mainly bullies). But either way, it was the best thing to ever happen to us at Happy Days. We even made a system for every prank. We'd make a note telling them why they got pranked, then signed it 'Bodil' and the number of successful pranks we've pulled off. Right now it is Bodil39, and people better watch out because Bodil is planning something big for number forty.

The name of Bodil also became a popular lunch topic. Who he or she was, who he was going to prank next and how. If my friends and I heard one of these conversations, we had to resist the urge to laugh. Some of those answers were really funny. One time I heard that Bodil was actually Jared, and the first prank he pulled on himself was just so people wouldn't guess. I told Baki and Simon that later, and we practically fell over laughing so hard.

The teachers found out about the frequent pranks and were not too happy about the mess and people getting distracted by them every waking moment. It got so bad that the manager had to come in. He asked everyone separately who was pulling the pranks. Everyone that I know of answered Bodil, so then he asked who Bodil was. Let's just say he got some interesting answers. So today they made an announcement that there would be an increase in security for reasons we didn't need to worry about (everyone knows that it's to catch Bodil to punish him). There would now be security cameras in the halls and someone to monitor them at all times. As soon as the announcement was over, everyone started talking about it. Though I have a feeling that Baki, Simon and I were talking about it a little differently than the other kids.

"So, this is the end of fun at Happy Days?" Simon asked, playing with his pencil.

I shook my head. "Of course not! Sure, it'll make our job harder, but I'm not letting some security cameras ruin everything!"

"But what do we do about them?" Baki asked.

I shrugged. "Bodil will just go into hiding for a bit. The manager is cheap. If he doesn't catch the kid who's Bodil, he'll just take the cameras down."

"And what if they don't take the cameras down?" Simon inquired.

"Then we take them out. No other option. But for now, we just wait. We can plan while we're at it."

Baki smiled. "Right. Forty. What are we gonna do for that anyways?"

"I don't know. That's why I want to plan."

"Hey!" The science teacher, Mr. Anderson, finally noticed we were talking. "You three, split up. Now!" We obeyed. If there is one person in this orphanage that you don't want to get on the bad side of, it's Mr. Anderson. One time a kid did something stupid in his class, he slept in the detention room for a week. I'm not even kidding. That kid was Simon, so I should know.

I sat next to a fifth grader named Seth. He was very absorbed in what Mr. Anderson was saying, so I didn't bother to introduce myself. I started to doodle in my notebook and tried to come up with my next prank. But all my ideas were just dumb. The bell rang and I met up with Simon and Baki outside the room.

"Any ideas? Cause I'm stumped on what to do for this prank." I told them. They both shook their heads. I sighed. "Great."

"Hey, cheer up," Baki said. "Maybe if we ask Mrs. Craw nicely, she'll give us an idea during gym."

Simon snorted. "Please. Even if she did, it probably would involve more laps for us."

The second bell rang, and we all looked at each other. "Well," I said, "I hope Mrs. Craw is forgiving today." Then we sprinted down the hall to the gym.

* * *

Unfortunately, she was not in the mood to forgive. When we came in late, she yelled at us then gave us 20 laps outside. Baki immediately started complaining about how hot it is. "I feel like I'm gonna die from heat stroke! Do they want us to die out here in the heat?!"

I just rolled my eyes. "Baki, it's spring. Everyone is fine with the temperature but you."

"I think it's because he's a snowman," Simon quipped. "He's never cold in the winter, but he's always hot every other time of the year."

Baki punched him in the arm as we laughed. "I'm not a snowman Simon!"

"I don't know, it makes a lot of sense to me," I told him. "After all, you also close the curtains and turn off the lights when you're in the room."

"That's because I like it dark."

"So you don't like the sun because it melts you?" Simon asked. "Sounds like a snowman to me."

"I am not a snowman!" He yelled.

"Don't worry Baki," I put my hand over his head like an umbrella. "We won't let the mean old sun melt you."

Simon put his hands over Baki too. "We'll protect you snowman."

"Shut up!" He tripped us and we burst out into laughter.

"Sorry, sorry! It was just too perfect! I couldn't resist!" Simon said, pushing himself up.

I pushed myself up too, but then immediately fell over when I tried to walk forward. Baki laughed. "Jeez Martin, you need to stop being so klutzy. One day when you have a girlfriend, you're gonna fall on her and that's why she'll break up with you." Simon snickered along with him.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever." I got back up and fell over again. And again. And again.

Simon and Baki were loving it. "Stop, just stop!" Simon laughed. "This is just too good,"

"Guys, I'm not doing this for a joke! It feels like my feet aren't there!" I said, panic starting to form with each failed attempt to stand.

It took a little more convincing, but Simon and Baki eventually figured out that I really wasn't kidding. "So what do we do about it?" Simon asked.

"Maybe we should go to the nurse," Baki suggested.

"And say what? She probably won't believe us if we say that my feet just suddenly stopped working." I said as they helped me up and put my arms around their shoulders to hold me up.

Baki shrugged. "Hey we never know. After all we've never actually been to the nurse's office before. Maybe she'll believe us."

I sighed. "I don't know guys..."

"Do you have a better idea?" Baki asked.

I thought for a bit then shook my head. "No."

"Alright then. Let's go."

They started to drag me towards the building. Simon grunted with each step. "Jeez you're heavy Martin. What have you been eating?"

"The stuff they've been serving here dimwit."

"Oh yeah. Right."

"Guys," Baki interrupted, "what are we supposed to do about Mrs. Craw? Because she's definitely not going to let us in."

"We're just gonna have to go around her or something," I replied.

"How?!" Simon asked.

"I don't know. Sprint."

"But we have to drag you and you're _heavy."_

"Just do it Simon!"

So we ran, or rather they ran and dragged me with them, past Mrs. Craw into the building, and straight into the nurse's office. The first thing that Simon said, no screamed, was,"Help! My friend can't feel his feet!"

The nurse, a tall maybe forty year old woman with short brown hair and a lab coat, gave us a strange look. I facepalmed. Note to self, slap Simon later for being an idiot.

"This better not be an attempt to trick me, because it's not going to work," She growled, glaring at us.

"No ma'am," Baki said in a calm voice. "It's just in gym class my friend just suddenly collapsed and couldn't get up. Do you think you can help him?"

The nurse looked at me with sudden concern. "Wait, are you Martin?" I nodded. She patted a seat next to a cabinet. "Please, sit down." Simon and Baki dragged me over and set me down on the chair. "You two may go back to class now," the nurse said.

"What? No!" Simon exclaimed. "If there's something wrong with Martin, we're not just gonna leave him!"

Baki nodded in agreement. "He's our best friend. If he's hurt or something, we wanna be right there with him."

"I appreciate your concern for your friend," she said, "but really, you need to go. I promise I'll keep you two updated."

Simon and Baki looked at each other, then headed out the door. "Bye Martin," Simon said sadly.

I waved. "Hey, I'll be fine. See you guys later." They walked out with solemn expressions, leaving me with the nurse.

She took out a file from the cabinet then that little hammer thing that doctors use to check your reflexes. She tapped my knee, but my leg didn't move. Same with my other leg. She sighed. "Martin, we need to talk."

"Well, I can't really go anywhere at the moment, so what is it?"

She took out the file and handed me a piece of paper. I glance it over. It was my record, it went all the way back to the day I arrived at the orphanage when I was a baby.

"On my first day here," the nurse said, "late at night someone knocked on the door of the orphanage. I was the only one around, so I opened it. A man was standing there, holding a baby. He shoved the baby into my arms. He said that he wasn't the father, but he was delivering the baby here for him as a favor. He also said that the baby might have something like ALS later on in life, but much more deadly. I asked him what he meant, and he just said that it would happen before the age of eight in a period of three days. Then he walked away before I could ask anything else."

"The baby was me?" I asked.

She nodded. "You grew up just fine, no issues ever. I thought that the man was just crazy. But, I guess he was right. But I don't understand how he knew."

"What did he look like?"

"I don't know. He wore a jacket with a hood that covered his face. His voice sounded old though, like he had been around for hundreds of years."

There was a moment of silence as she let the story sink in. I knew what ALS was, and I did not like the idea of me having something worse. "So what do we do?"

The nurse picked me up and took me outside to a parking lot. She place me in a car then got in the front seat. "We get you to the hospital."

* * *

A lot of things are blurs after we arrived. I remember doctors and nurses swarming around me, injecting me with something, then one nurse saying that they were going to run some tests. The next thing I know I was laying in a hospital bed.

The nurse from the orphanage was talking to a doctor in a hushed voice. She glanced over his shoulder and saw that I was awake, then came over and sat next to me. "How do you feel Martin?"

"Like I was stabbed with a million needles. What happened?"

The nurse looked at me sadly. "The doctors ran some tests after they knocked you out. They found out that there's a virus in you that has the same effects as ALS, but it works ten times faster and seems to completely destroy your muscles.. They've never seen anything like it before."

Neither of us said a word. The reality of the situation hurt. I was slowly dying of a disease that no one had ever seen before, and therefore no one can cure. "How long?" I asked her.

She wouldn't meet my eyes. "Three days."

Three days. I had three days until I was dead. I looked at the nurse, tears forming in my eyes. "C-can I see my friends one more time?"

* * *

The next day Simon and Baki came in with the nurse. They saw me over in the bed and I thought that they were both going to cry. Despite the fact that I was dying, I tried to keep the mood light. I smiled at them. "Hey guys! I would wave, but I woke up this morning and couldn't move anything but my head." They smiled, but the sad look in their eyes remained.

We pretty much talked all day, then the nurse came in and told them it was time to leave.

"Can you guys do me a favor?" I asked them before they left.

They nodded. "What?"

"Keep the legacy of Bodil going, would you?"

They both smiled. "Of course." Then we said goodbye for the last time.

* * *

The next day, my last day, I woke up not being able to do anything but see, breath, and hear. I wish I could say that I was prepared for this day, but I wasn't. I wanted to live. But I knew I didn't have that choice.

Later in the day, the orphanage nurse came into the room. "Martin, I hope you can hear me," she said, starting to get choked up. "I just wanted to give you something before… it's too late." She held a pair of sunglasses in front of my face for me to see. "The man, the one who gave you to me, also gave me these. He said that they were your father's gift to you. I found them this morning. I would've given them to you sooner, but I completely forgot about them." She place them on my eyes and I started to cry. She did too. She place a hand on my shoulder. "Rest in peace Martin. I'm sure you were a great kid."

And that was the last thing I heard.

**(Well that's it. I killed off Martin. Hope you guys enjoyed and… Oh who am I kidding? I can't end it there! Just read on. Long update FTW!)**

"Wake up."

I sat up straight and started breathing heavily. I was in a room made of reddish-brown brick, red stone, and… is that lava? Around me were four black skeletons holding swords and looking towards a huge floating black skeleton thing with three heads.

"Am I dead?" I asked.

I swear the skeletons laughed. "No Bodil, you're not," the big one said.

I was taken aback when he called me Bodil. "How do you know about that? Only Simon and Baki know about that!"

"I've been watching you for a long time Martin."

"That's weird."

"Quiet! So, as I was saying, I've been watching you since you were a baby. After all, I was the one who delivered you to the orphanage."

"Wait, why would my dad would be friends with a giant skeleton?"

"Shut up! Anyways, I killed the one who was supposed to bring you to the orphanage and disguised myself as him. Do you know why?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes giant skeleton, I totally know why you went through all the trouble to kill a man just so you could take me to prison. Note the sarcasm."

He sighed and leaned over to one of the guards. "Why did we choose this one again?"

"I believe it was a roulette game sir," the guard replied.

"Right. Remind me to stop gambling on important matters."

"Noted sir."

"Uh… hello?" I called. "You sounded like you had something important to say to me earlier. Is that still relevant or…"

"Well it would be if you would just shut up and listen to me!" The giant skeleton screamed.

I put my hands up in defeat. "Jeez, sorry. I'm just saying what's on my mind."

If the giant skeleton had hands, I'm pretty sure he would've facepalmed. "Okay, I'll make this brief. I'm the Wither, I want to rule a different world, I need you to do that, so I implanted a virus in you that would turn you into one of us, when you wake up put the sunglasses on and they will disguise you, and if you tell anyone about it you die. Got it?"

"Oh yeah sure that's cool… wait, did you say that you're the one who put the virus in me?"

"Goodbye Martin!" Then the Wither shot one of his heads at me.

* * *

I woke up in the hospital bed and immediately looked in a mirror. My face was half black bone and both of my eyes were just sockets. "Well, I guess it wasn't just a dream." I put on the sunglasses and looked in the mirror again. I looked normal. "Well, at least he had the decency to give me a disguise."

I pushed myself out of the bed and stood up. After three days of not being able to move my legs, it felt good to stand up again. "But why would the Wither put a virus to do that to me? I don't believe that whole 'he needs me to take over a different world' crap. I'm nothing special," I mumble to myself.

Unfortunately I didn't have a lot of time to think about it. A nurse came barging in soon after. "You!" she practically screamed in shock. "You've been dead for hours!"

I looked at her strangely. "I have?"

"He's alive! Come quick!" She called out into the hall. The next thing I know a wave of doctors came in and started doing tests on me, checking my heartbeat, my reflexes, and everything else. Well, except my eyes. I wouldn't let them take off the sunglasses. I already died once, and I can say that it's not something I want to go through again.

Eventually they finished and told me that my heart had stopped beating for four hours. It was a miracle that I was alive. They told me that I would stay here for a few more days to make sure I was fine, then they would call someone to take me back to the orphanage. I only found one problem with that plan: I didn't want to wait. I can't believe it, but the only thing I wanted was to go back to that prison of an orphanage.

So that night I sneaked out of the hospital. I found a way to maneuver around the security cameras by sticking to walls and hiding from the guards by ducking into different rooms. It wasn't easy, and it took all night, but I can say that I've learned some valuable skills. For example, I now know how to get around the new camera system at the orphanage. Bodil is back in buisness!

After a night of running I finally saw the rusted chain link fence. I never thought I would ever be happy to see it, but I was. I sprinted towards it and climbed over in a hidden area. I glanced around and spotted Simon and Baki sitting on the track. I was about to go over and scare them, but someone beat me too it. Jared.

"Hey!" He screamed, making them both jump. "Where's my project?"

"I-it's almost done. Just give us a couple more hours Jared." Baki told him.

Jared picked them up by their shirts. "I need it NOW! I told you the deadline!"

"Well, it wasn't really a realistic deadline," Simon mumbled.

"What did you say?" Jared growled.

"Nothing!" He squeaked.

Jared threw them onto the ground. "If you didn't want to do it, your friend shouldn't have gone and died. Remember that for next time." He called back as he started to walk away, "Half an hour. Then I want that project."

Blood boiled inside of me. He still had the nerve to bully people? Fine. I charged toward the wall where he and his friends were standing. I'll make sure that he loses that nerve. I hid behind the corner and yelled, "Hey! Jared!"

He and his friends looked around. "Did you hear that?" He asked them.

"Well I hope you can hear me, because I need to talk to you. You have some nerve to keep bullying my friends even after I died."

There was a couple of seconds of silence. "...Martin?"

"I see you're still a dimwit Jared."

"No! You're dead! You can't be here!"

"Oh you better believe I'm here. And if I see you bullying Simon and Baki again, I'll see to it that I'm not the only one who's dead."

"This has to be a trick."

"A trick? Ha!" I poked my head around the corner and have them a troll smirk. "Boo." Then they all ran away screaming about a ghost, I just stood there and laughed. Oh, how satisfying it was to do that.

"Martin?!" A shocked voice said from behind me.

I turned around and smiled at my friends. "Hey guys. What's up?"

"You were dead," Simon said blatantly.

I laughed. "What, you think that you can get rid of me that easily?"

"That was it, wasn't it?" Baki asked.

I gave him a confused look. "Was what what?"

"Number forty. That's what the whole 'I'm dying' thing was, wasn't it?"

"Wha...I mean yeah. That's exactly what it was! I got you guys, didn't I?" I wasn't sure if it sounded convincing enough, but they seem to believe it.

Simon punched me in the arm. "Well never do something like that again! We really thought you were dead!"

"Sorry," I told them. "I guess I went just a little bit overboard on that."

Baki laughed. "Maybe just a bit. I just wanna know how you did it!" Then he glanced at my glasses. "And where you got those sunglasses."

I smirked. "Bodil40 doesn't like to reveal his secrets."

The first bell rang and people started to pile inside. "C'mon guys," I said to my friends. "As much as I hate it, even the dead have to go to gym class." Then the three of us ran inside laughing.

**(*Pant* *pant* Okay, **_**now **_**it's the end. Hope you guys enjoyed this one chapter that was supposed to be two :) Sorry to you people who don't like longer updates. This probably won't happen again. No promises xP. So… Bodli's part wither. That happened. I know Jason's usually the wither hybrid, but I wanted it to be Bodil this time cuz why not. Also sorry if anyone got offended by the ALS reference. I know it's a terrible disease and shouldn't be taken lightly and stuff. This is the longest A/N I've ever done. I'll stop my rambling. PEACE OUT!)**


	12. Chapter 12

_[Ian's POV]_

SSundee. That has to be the worst nickname on planet earth. SSundee! Of all the things the people could call me, it had to be SSundee. I blame my foster home for the nickname. If kids are returned by a foster family, the staff gives the kid an ice cream sundae to make them feel better or something. In my eight years of life, I've had twenty-three foster families. And twenty-three pity sundaes. It's not my fault that I always returned! It's all because the family takes off my sunglasses and lets _him_ out…

Either way, I hold the record for most returns in the foster home history. People do not take that lightly. So on my twenty-third return, I was eating my sundae and people just started to chant 'sundae' over and over until I went to bed. They did that every single day. And somehow along the way it morphed into 'SSundee'. So that just became my name to everyone under the age of twenty. I'm not even sure if some of the really little kids know my real name.

Today was no different than every other day. I woke up, endured being called 'SSundee' a couple times, went to class, then headed to lunch. Today's lunch was PB and J, potato chips, carrots, and for dessert ice cream. I didn't take the ice cream. I walked over to the far side of the cafeteria and sat at the corner of a table. I started to munch on some chips when two trays were set down next to me. Uh oh.

"Hey SSundee," Andrew, an eleven year old who started the whole 'SSundee' thing, sat down next to me with a fake smile.

"Please don't call me SSundee Andrew," I said, not taking my eyes off my tray.

"Why? Don't discriminate against your people SSundee."

"That doesn't even make sense," I mumbled.

"You know what doesn't make sense?" the other boy, Kyle, asked. "SSundee not wanting ice cream. I mean, he's had so many of them you would think that it would be his favorite food."

"Nah," Andrew replied. "He's probably sick of them. They are a symbol of rejection after all."

Kyle laughed. "Yeah. That makes a lot more sense."

I stood up and moved to a different table as they laughed. The only table with open spots was over by Amanda and her friends. They are twelve and possibly the most vicious people in the foster home. I looked at Andrew and Kyle, then back at Amanda and her crew. Take a chance at being laughed at the entire lunch period, or for sure being made fun of for the rest of the lunch period. I don't really like either option. But maybe I'll get lucky and the girls will ignore me.

I sat down and started eating my sandwich. At first the girls just kept talking, not noticing me. I thought that maybe today I was safe.

Nope. Why would I think that? A second later, Amanda saw me. "What are _you _doing over here SSundee? Shouldn't you be drowning yourself in ice cream or something?"

"My name's not SSundee," I mumbled.

"What's that?" she taunted. "I can't hear you. Did you ask for more ice cream? Well here you go SSundee." She dumped her ice cream onto my head. The entire cafeteria roared in laughter. Even the lunch ladies chuckled a little bit.

Rage grew inside of me. I was tempted to take off my glasses and let _him _deal with everyone. But I didn't. I'm not that cruel. Instead I just yelled at the top of my lungs, "My name is Ian! Not SSundee! Why is that so hard for all of you to get?!" I ran out of the cafeteria down the hall into my room and cried on my bed. "I wish that I could get rid of him," I said to myself. "That would make my life a lot easier." Then I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I can't say I have many dreams, maybe one once or twice a month, but when I do they're always terrifying. Usually someone takes off my glasses and I turn into _him_. Then I'm forced to watch as he hurts them. I would always wake up in a fit of tears after those dreams.

As terrifying as those dreams are, this one was even worse. This time it was just me in a white room looking in a mirror. But in the mirror wasn't just a normal reflection of me. Instead my sunglasses were off, and the reflection's blue eyes were looking two different ways. His smile looked like a madman's. Otherwise we looked the same. He was my alter ego. My insane, killing, alter ego. I don't know his name, nor do I like to think about it. But if I had to call him by a name, it would be Derp SSundee.

"Hi Ian," Derp said in his crazy voice.

"Uh… hi." I stood there dumbfounded. I've never actually talked to Derp before. It was kinda weird. Like I was talking to myself. Well… I guess I am in a way.

"Why don't you take off your glasses Ian?" he asked. "Why don't you let me out?"

"I don't want you to hurt anyone," I replied, trying to avoid his eyes.

"But why? I could take care of those jerks who call you names."

"It's because of you they call me SSundee!"

"I'm just trying to do what's best for you! Those families didn't deserve you. Besides, they let me out and why shouldn't I be allowed to have some fun? It doesn't affect you, so why should you care?"

"It does affect me! I've been sent back to the foster home twenty three-times because of you! I don't want to be here for the rest of my life!"

"You don't have to be here forever. I can help! All you have to do is take off your glasses-"

"No! I won't let you hurt anyone!"

"I'll get you out of the foster home, I promise! Just let me out for awhile!"

"Why are you even a part of me?! Why do you want to hurt people so badly?!"

"It's what I'm meant to do. And it's fun. I haven't had any fun in such a long time. Neither have you Ian. Why don't you let me out for a bit? We're both the same person. So if I have some fun, we'll both have some fun!"

I clenched my fist. "Leave me alone you psychopath! We are _not_ the same!" I slammed my fist into the mirror, shattering it into a million pieces.

"You can't hold me back forever Ian…" Derp's voice called. Then the white room faded around me.

* * *

I woke up breathing heavily and sweating. When Derp said that we were the same person, I lost it. We're not the same! I don't kill people for fun! Why would we be the same?

Someone knocked on the door. "Ian? Are you in there?" It was one of the caretakers. Amy I think. She poked her head in and gave me a smile. "Hey Ian. A new couple is here looking to adopt instead of just foster. Why don't you go get ready?"

"What's the point?" I asked. "They won't choose me. And if they do, they'll probably just return me like every other time."

"That's no way to act Ian. Maybe this is your time." She stood up and patted me on the shoulder. "Now get ready. When you're done come down to the conference room, alright?" I nodded and she walked away.

I slipped into my suit that I use for every interview with couples. I hate that suit. The reason should be obvious by now. I walked down the hall towards the conference room and sat by the other kids. We all waited for our turn.

After an hour or so, Amy called my name. "Ian, you can come in now." I walked towards the door, trying to ignore the whispers behind me. They were probably about how I was about to get rejected.

Once I was in the room, I sat down by the round table in front of the couple. The woman had long straight dirty blonde hair with green eyes and a friendly smile. The man had short red hair with blue eyes with a bored look on his face.

"This is Ian," Amy introduced. I gave a small wave. She turned to me. "Ian, this is Joanna and Luke. Be kind and respectful. Remember the rehearsals, okay?" I gave a small nod. I've gone through this a hundred times before. I think I know the drill by now.

Amy left the room, leaving me staring at the couple. "Uh… hi. What's up?" I asked to break the tension.

Joanna kept her smile on. "Oh, nothing much Ian. My husband and I are just looking for a little kid to adopt. Do you think you could be that kid?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I just met you. How would I know what you're looking for in a kid? I could be the complete opposite of what you're looking for and I wouldn't know."

Luke chuckled. "Well, you earn points for being the first kid we've seen so far with a sense of humor. All the other kids were basically rocks."

Joanna glared at him. "Luke, that's not nice."

He put his hands up in surrender. "It's true." I laughed a little bit at this.

We all talked for a while longer, mainly about my interests and every once in a while cracking a joke. They did ask about my sunglasses at one point, but I told them that I had an eye condition and they protected my eyes from light. I'm not sure if that's an actual thing or not, but it sounded convincing to me.

Finally the interview was over. Amy came in with the next kid and I went back to the waiting area. As soon as the door was closed, the SSundee comments began.

"How'd that go SSundee?" One kid called. "Would you say enough to get another sundae?" Everyone laughed.

"If he does get picked, how long do you think he's gonna last?" One girl asked the rest of the kids.

"I give it two weeks," someone replied. "Then when he comes back, he can add a, what, thirtieth rejection to his list?" Again the room erupted in laughter.

_Let me take care of them…_ Derp said in my head.

I grit my teeth and shook my head. These kids may be jerks, but they don't deserve to face Derp. So instead I just said in a semi-calm voice, "Why do you all insist on making my life here harder? Don't you think I'm beating myself up enough over being returned so many times?" My voice started to get louder. "Well, now I'm stuck here with people who bully me! And why?! Because I got returned a lot! I feel horrible about everything already, so why can't you all just leave me alone?!"

They all stood there, frozen, at first I thought it was because of my little speech, but I turned around and saw Joanna and Luke standing there with Amy apologizing about my behavior. I just ruined my chances of them picking me. I muttered sorry and then ran to my room and started kicking everything in sight.

"Stupid!" I screamed. "I'm stupid! And I hate you Derp SSundee! None of this would be happening if it wasn't for you!" I chucked a pillow at the mirror, hoping it would shatter my reflection like in the dream. But of course nothing happened. I just continued kicking everything I could.

I was so angry, I didn't even notice that someone came into my room until I felt a hand on my shoulder. "I know it's rough, kid." I turned around and saw Luke standing there, a worried look on his face. "I was in an orphanage when I was young. That's why my wife and I wanted to do this."

"You don't want me," I mumbled. "I get returned by everyone who fosters me. No one really likes me here either."

"How many times have you gotten returned?"

I gulped. "Twenty-three…"

To my surprise, Luke just laughed. "Only twenty-three? I got returned thirty-nine times before I was finally adopted!"

My eyes widened. "Really?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah. You and I have a lot in common Ian. I was also bullied for being returned so much. But you took it way better than I ever did. I never had the guts to stand up for myself. You seem like a good kid that just needs a lucky break."

Joanna walked into the room. "So we're gonna give you that lucky break."

"You mean it?!"

They nodded. "Yep. You just seem like the perfect kid for us. So you better get packing! We're going to go finish signing the papers."

I zipped around my room like lightning, gathering everything I owned in my backpack then headed out to the front of the building where the office was. None of my other foster families were as nice as these two were, so maybe I actually had a chance of staying! That is if I keep Derp away…

I pushed that thought aside. I'll worry about him later. For now, I wasn't going to let anything ruin my mood. Not even the people around me betting on how long I would stay with Luke and Joanna.

I opened the office door where they were waiting. Joanna greeted me with a smile. "Are you ready to go Ian?" I nodded.

Luke picked me up and put me on his shoulders. "Then let's go kid!" We all ran out to their car laughing. Let's see how long this lasts.

* * *

It's been a month since Luke and Joanna adopted me. My longest time to date! I still won't let them take off my sunglasses for obvious reasons, but they're very respectful about it. They also helped me pick out stuff for my room, enrolled me in the Vermont elementary school, and even took me to an amusement park!

Today Luke had to go to work, so Joanna took me to a playground by our house. As soon as we arrived, Joanna's phone rang. She frowned at it. "It's my work. I'll be right back, okay Ian?"

"Okay."

"Don't wander off," She walked over to a bench by a tree and answered her call.

I ran over towards the playground and heard yelling from under one of the platforms. "No! Darren go away!" one voice screamed.

"I just wanna see your fancy glasses Adam," another voice replied.

"No! You can't have them!"

I poked my head around and saw two kids, both around my age. One had curly brown hair and sunglasses on. That was probably Adam. The other kid, Darren, was a couple inches taller than Adam with black hair and trying to take the glasses off Adam's face while Adam was trying to slap his hands away.

Darren finally got a hold of the glasses and laughed in triumph. But just for a split second. The next thing I know his smile morphed into a look of fear. "N-no! Don't hurt me monster! I'm sorry I never left food for you!"

Adam was on the ground, covering his eyes with his hands. "Where are my glasses?!" Did Adam do that to Darren? With his eyes?

I first tried to help Darren, who was backed up into a pole screaming. I tried telling him there was no monster, but he acted like I wasn't even there. So I gave that up pretty quick.

I spotted Adam's glasses in Darren's hand. I took them and tapped Adam on the shoulder. "Here! Just put them on!" I screamed over Darren's shrieks.

Adam took the glasses and put them on. For a split second I saw his eyes. They looked like the sky. Adam looked at me, then over at Darren. "I didn't mean to do that, I swear!"

"I know," I replied simply.

"Wait, you don't think I'm a monster for making a guy live his worst fear when he looks into my eyes?"

I shook my head. "No. Not at all," I bit my lip. "I have the same problem."

He looked shocked for a second. "What?"

"When I take off my sunglasses, my alter ego comes out and, uh… destroys things. Please don't tell anyone!"

For a second he looked relieved. "I won't tell if you don't tell anyone about me."

I stuck my hand out. "Deal. I'm Ian by the way."

Adam shook my hand. "Adam."

"Your eyes look like the sky by the way."

"You saw my eyes and nothing happened to you?!" He asked, shocked.

"Huh. I guess that is a little weird. I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm also wearing sunglasses?"

Adam shrugged. "I'm not gonna question it."

"So is your nickname Sky? Cause, you know, your eyes."

"Uh… no."

"Well, that's your nickname now! Alright Sky?"

He laughed. "Sure. Why not?"

Darren abruptly stopped screaming and dropped to the ground. Adam and I both looked at him. Oops. Forgot about him. "I'll go get someone to help," I said.

"That's probably a good idea."

I ran over to the bench and poked Joanna in the arm. "Joanna, Joanna, Joanna,"

"...yeah. Can you wait one sec?" She covered up the speaker and looked at me. "What Ian?"

"There's a kid over by the playground who fainted."

"I'll call you back." She hung up the phone and followed me over to the playground where Darren and Adam were. She bent down by Darren and checked his pulse. "I'm going to go call an ambulance. You two stay here," she commanded.

Adam and I just stared at Darren. "I killed him," Adam mumbled.

"You didn't do it on purpose Sky," I told him. "He was the one who took your glasses off. So technically he did it to himself." He didn't seem convinced. Honestly, I would have the same reaction if the same thing happened to me. We just stood there in silence looking at Darren.

The next thing I know EMTs swarmed around us, most attending to Darren. A couple were talking to Joanna. One of them turned to us. "Do you two know anything about what happened?" he asked. We both shook our heads. After that they loaded Darren into an ambulance and left.

I looked over at Adam and saw the guilty look on his face. I patted his shoulder. "He'll be okay."

"You don't know my curse," he mumbled.

"Let's do something else to get our minds off of it," I suggested. Adam didn't reply. "C'mon Sky!"

He finally cracked a small smile. "Alright." he poked me in the side of the arm. "Tag. You're it." He sprinted across the playground away from me.

A wide smile formed on my face. Two cursed kids are now best friends. What could go wrong? "Get back here Sky!"

So we ran around laughing for the rest of the day. Maybe Amy was right. Maybe this is my time.


	13. Chapter 13

_[Bashur's POV]_

I was planning to sit at my table in the cafeteria alone. Again. It happens everyday. I come down to the lunch room and sneak my way over to a table in the corner and pray that no one sees me. It works on a good day. But most days the other kids in my class pick on me. On those days I usually end up with no lunch either. It usually doesn't get any worse than that though. Hey, we're in second grade. There's really no hardcore bullying. But either way I still don't like having no lunch.

Today I got down to lunch before everyone else, so I figured I'd be okay just going over to my lonely table. But there was already someone sitting there. The new kid, Harvey.

Harvey joined a week ago, and as far as I know, no one know a thing about him. At recess he just stands by the wall and stares at the ground. In class he never says anything. I'm not even sure if he _can _talk. Usually he'll just sit at a random table in the cafeteria, no matter who's sitting there. Today apparently he was sitting at my table.

So there he was sitting alone eating his food. And here I am, standing ten feet away from him, debating whether or not to go sit next to him. Then I heard feet pounding down the stairs. I panicked a bit, then ran over to the table with my lunch and sat next to Harvey. He glanced up from his food at me.

I gave him a nervous smile. "Uh...hi!" I said way too quickly. "I saw you sitting here alone and I thought-"

"You don't have to lie," Harvey interrupted. "I know just hiding over here. It's fine. I really don't mind." Great. It's the first time I heard the guy speak, and he's already making me feel guilty.

For a few minutes while everyone else got their food and sat down, Harvey and I just sat and ate in silence. I hate silence. Just ask my friends in my neighborhood. So I blurted out, "My name is Bashur."

He gave me a weird look. "I thought your name was Brandon."

"Yeah, no one calls me that though. Just call me Bashur or Bash." I changed the topic so it didn't get quiet again. "Well, welcome to California! Where'd you move from?"

"Illinois."

"Do you have any friends there?"

"I don't work well with people."

"So… you've never had any friends? Ever?"

Harvey shook his head. "I don't really mind. Nobody really gets me anyways. I leave people alone and they leave me alone. I prefer it that way." Then we both went back to eating our lunch in silence. I felt sorry for Harvey. I may not have any friends at school, but I have plenty of them in my neighborhood. I can't imagine what it must be like to not have any friends.

Eventually the bell rang and we both headed back to the classroom.

* * *

The next day, I had a mission. I called it Operation Friendship (it's a terrible name, I know). Basically I'm going to try to become Harvey's friend. It's gonna be hard, considering I know basically nothing about him. But I am determined.

It started in class, when we switched seats I made sure that I was sitting by Harvey at the back of the room. I tried talking to him there, but he just ignored me and doodled in his notebook. Strike one. My next attempt was later on in the day when we were told to partner up for a worksheet. I chose Harvey. We worked on the sheet together, and by 'together' I mean we sat next to each other and didn't say a word while working alone. Strike two. I tried to play with him at recess, but he just sat by the wall and looked at the ground, not moving. Strike three. That's it. It's hopeless. I give up.

I started shuffling through my stuff in my locker, looking for my lunch while moping about my failure. I had to take a lot of stuff out trying to find it. I'm just going to say that I'm probably the messiest person in the school. I couldn't anywhere after five minutes of searching. Where is it?! I'm starving and I refuse to take the crappy school food!

"Looking for this?" I turned around and saw a trio of three girls, each my age. Tiffany, Allie, and Victoria. The three that usually pick on me. Tiffany was holding my lunch in the air.

"Yeah, actually. Can I have it back?" I asked.

She smirked. "How much will you give us for it?"

"Uh, what? It's my lunch!"

"Well, we have it, and you don't. So technically it's ours. Ten bucks for it."

"I don't have ten bucks."

"Well, then I guess we don't need this anymore." Tiffany tossed my lunch to Allie. "Just trash it."

A locker slammed from down the hall. Harvey's. He stormed over to us. "Just give him back his lunch," he said.

Tiffany rolled her eyes. "Since when do you care Harvey? You haven't done anything since you came here to make friends. Why try now?"

He grit his teeth and snatched the lunch out of Allie's hands. "I just don't like bullies. Now lay off. What did Bashur ever do to you?"

Tiffany scoffed and the trio walked off to the cafeteria. Harvey handed me back my lunch and I gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks man. I appreciate it."

"No problem," He replied, then looked down at the ground. "Sorry about ignoring you. I just have never had a friend before, so I don't really know how to act."

I smiled. "Well, I'll tell you one thing that friends do. Sit and talk with each other at lunch. Do you wanna come?"

Harvey smiled. "Sure. Why not? Actually having a friend might be fun."

**(Okay, I'm just gonna answer a couple questions for Ravenstar and for anyone else who might be wondering. **

**Who's going to be included in the story? -This is it. Everyone is now in the story :D. I'll be finishing up Harvey and Bashur's story and then get everyone to meet. That might take a while. I'm not including Zek. Sorry. I really don't know much about him.**

**Is there going to be a sequel? -I'm not quite sure yet. I have an idea for a sequel using other YouTubers that I like but I still have a lot of chapters to go in this story first. I also have other fanfic ideas that I want to eventually get started too. I'll ask what people want to read once I'm done with this story.**

**And before anyone asks, I'm pretty sure no one really knows Seto's real name, so I just used Harvey, which is one of the theories about his name. Just incase you were wondering.**

**If any of you have questions, feel free to ask. If you have an account, I'll PM you the answer. If you don't have an account, leave a guest review and I'll answer your question in one of the A/N. Jeez, speaking of which this is a long one. I'll end my rambling. Thanks for reading and PEACE OUT!**


	14. Chapter 14

**(You didn't think I would have Bashur and Harvey's backstory be so anticlimactic, did you?)**

_[Harvey's POV]_

"C'mon boys! Let's go!" Bashur's mom yelled. Bashur and I ran down the stairs in his house and outside where the rest of his family was packing up their SUV. Bash invited me to go on a camping trip to Red Creek with him and his family since school had just let out. I was a bit skeptical about going, but my parents were ecstatic that I finally had a friend, so they agreed for me. But the way that Bashur's 12 year old twin brothers, Connor and Travis, described it made it sound pretty fun.

We all piled our stuff into the trunk of the car then piled in and started driving to the campsite. I stared out the window as we drove while Bashur dozed off. Connor and Travis fooled around in the back. We drove of hours. And hours. And hours. "Mrs. Bashur's mom, are almost there?"

She chuckled. "I was wondering when someone would ask that. Just another hour or two Harvey."

The twins groaned simultaneously in the back. "An _hour?!_" Connor said dramatically. Or at least, I think it was Connor. Seriously, it's impossible to tell those two apart. They both have the same short dirty-blonde hair, the same save blue eyes, the same height, even the same voice for crying out loud! The only thing that can set them apart is their clothes, and even that isn't easy considering that they both wear t-shirts and jeans all the time. By now I have given up on calling them by name.

Finally after an hour of Connor and Travis's complaining, the car finally stopped. Bashur's dad turned around. "Alright boys, quit complaining. We're here." The two adults stepped out of the car, leaving me, Connor, and Travis to wake up Bash.

"Great," Travis mumbled.

"What?" I asked. "We just have to wake him up."

Connor snorted. "Please. You've never been faced with the challenge that is waking up Bahsur."

I rolled my eyes. "It can't be that hard." Well, as it turns out it is that hard. We tried poking him, slapping him, punching him, it seems like the guy would never wake up! Then Travis poured his water bottle on him in desperation. That _finally _woke him up.

As soon as the water splashed on him, Bash shot up in his seat. "AGH! What the balls?!"

Connor and Travis roared in laughter. I had to suppress a giggle myself. "You look like you jumped in a lake," Connor snickered.

Bash shot him a miffed look. "Connor, I swear one of these days I'm gonna smack you all the way to Jupiter." Stuck his tounge out in response.

I opened the car door and pulled Bash out before he could tackle his laughing brothers. "C'mon Bash. Let's go set up the tent."

* * *

It took about an hour and a half to set up the camp (actually, it would've taken longer but we got bored of organizing pretty quickly, so we just kinda threw the stuff in our tents). After that, Bashur's parents told Connor and Travis to take us hiking while they cooked dinner. So naturally, the athletic twins took the unathletic kids on the longest and hardest mountain trail. Okay, we weren't exactly in the biggest mountains in Cali, but Bash and I were still terrible at anything athletic, so it seemed like we were in the Sierra Nevadas. But for the twins, they sprinted up the trail for maybe half an hour straight up the trail with ease. Bashur and I struggled to breath just running a little bit trying to catch up.

When we did finally see them again, they were sitting on a log by a little cave, looking smug. "Finally! I thought that you two would never get here!" Travis exclaimed.

Bashur walked over and punched him in the shoulder. "Shut up."

I walked over to the cave and glance inside while they were talking. It was completely pitch black. "Whatcha looking at Harvey?" Connor asked.

"Just the cave," I replied, trying to make something out of the darkness in the cave. There had to be something in there.

I started to walk towards the entrance, but Connor stopped me by putting a hand on my shoulder. "Woah Harv! I wouldn't go in there if I were you."

I gave him a quizzical look. "Why?"

"The legend of the cave on Red Creek," he said in an eerie voice. "Legend says that a thousand years ago, three boys say an old man sitting by the cave resting. They wanted to play a joke on him, so they tricked the man into going in the cave. As soon as he did, the boys blocked the entrance. They meant to let the man out, but forgot about him for a week."

Travis stopped bickering with Bashur and continued the story. "When they finally did come back for him, there was no body. They went into the cave to get a closer look, but never came out. Ever since then, any hikers who entered that cave were never seen again."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right. Even if the 'legend' was real, wouldn't there have been news stories on it?"

"Oh, there were," Connor said, "but they still don't know what happened to them." He and Travis stood up and started heading up the mountain again. "See you kids at the top. That is, if you can even get there." They sprinted away laughing, leaving Bash and me staring at the cave.

"You don't actually believe them, do you?" I asked him.

Bash gave a nervous laugh in response. "N-no! Of course not! That would be stupid!" He glanced anxiously at the cave again and I rolled my eyes.

"C'mon, they're just trying to scare us."

Bash lowered his voice to a whisper. "But what if it's real?"

"Bash, you're so gullible. I'll prove it's not real." I took his wrist and started dragging him inside the cave. He struggled to get out of my grasp.

"No no no no no! I'm _not_ dying today!"

I yanked him deeper into the cave. "Bash, you're not gonna die." I walked to the back of the cave and put his hand on the wall. "See? We're fine."

I let go if his wrist and he relaxed a bit. "Hey. Yeah. What do you know? Can we go back now."

I smirked. "Sure Bash. If it really still freaks you out that much." We walked back through the darkness towards the entrance. But instead of light we were only met with a rocky wall.

"There's no way out!" Bash cried dramatically. "We're stuck! We're gonna die!I knew I shouldn't have let you drag me in here!" He pounded on the walls, screaming for someone to help. I ended up wandering back to the other end of the cave. "Harvey!" Bash yelled. "What are you doing?!"

I didn't answer him. I just had a feeling that there was something important down here. I felt around the wall until I found a loose stone and pulled it out. The rest of the wall crumbled to the ground, revealing a staircase going deeper into the ground with torches lighting the way.

"Woah!" Bashur had joined. "I wonder where it leads."

I shrug. "I guess I'll find out."

I started walking down the stairs, but Bash stopped me. "Are you crazy?! This is the part in every movie where the person goes down and is killed by some boobytrap!"

I glanced at him and pulled myself away. "You overreact too much." Then I headed down the stairs.

"Fine!" Bashur called down. "You walk down to your death. I'll just stay here and, you know, live."

When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I was met with a long hallway. I grabbed a torch and then heard a pant next to me. "Decided to join the cool kids club Bash?" I asked.

He smiled next to me. "Yeah. I thought that you might need my brains or brawn."

"Yeah, whatever Bash."

"Well, what are we waiting for? The hallway is there, so let's go!" He mearly took one step forward and then fire shot out from the walls. Bashur yipped and pulled his foot back. "Why didn't I listen to my own advice? Looking before you do something in the creepy old temple place is, like, the number one rule in movies!"

I looked down the hall. Little silver spikes dotted the ceiling, virtually invisible if you didn't have really keen eyes. Little holes also lined the wall where the fire came out, and the floor looked like it was about to give way. If we touched the floor, we risked getting killed by those things, and probably even more hidden ones. But if we didn't do anything, we would die just sitting here. So that left only one option. "Bashur, have you ever taken a leap of faith?"

His face turned panicked. "No. And I'm not quite sure I want to."

"Well, you're going to anyways." I grabbed his wrist again and started sprinting down the hall, Bash sprinting right beside me.

He looked back and screamed. "Dude! There are a lot of deadly things happening behind us!"

"Exactly, so shut up and keep running!"

We sprinted for probably five minutes straight at least. I have no clue how I could still breath after a while. How long is the freaking hall?! Well, my question was answered two seconds later. I could see the end! The floor collapsed in front of it suddenly, making a gap into oblivion. It was too far apart to jump and make it. With the floor collapsing behind us, we were pretty much at a dead end. Literally.

"Uh… dude? What do we do?" Bash screamed.

"Bash…" Ten feet until the end. Now or never. "JUMP!"

Both of our feet lifted off the ground and we hurtled towards the edge. But we were still too far. We wouldn't make it on. I closed my eyes and waited to plunge into the cavern below. But nothing happened.

"Jeez Harvey!" Bash called. "Help a guy out! I can't just hang here forever!"

I opened my eyes and saw that Bashur had grabbed onto a ledge five feet from the top of where we were supposed to be. I thankfully was still clutching onto his wrist. I smiled. "Bash, I'm glad you joined the cool kids club."

He rolled his eyes. "Thank you, thank you. Now quit doing nothing and help get us up."

I found a place in the rocks that I could grab on to, then we both pulled ourselves up. Bash immediately flopped down on the ground and started breathing heavily. "I wasn't planning to "Indiana Jones" it up today, but hey, it's more exciting that hiking."

I chuckled at his comment. "Well, it doesn't look it's over yet Bash."

He groaned. "Great! Just what I needed today, more death!" I pulled him off the ground and we walked into the next room.

**(Dun dun DUUUUUUUUN! What will happen to Harvey and Bashur? Find out next time, on Dragon Ball Z :P. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Also, I will give you a cookie if you know who Connor and Travis are. If you're a PJO fan, you should know.)**


	15. Chapter 15

**(Sorry I didn't update last week. I was really busy. Terrible excuse, I know.)**

_[Harvey's POV_]

The room we entered was full of weird looking symbols. On every wall was nothing but strange symbols that I didn't know the meaning of. Bashur looked just as confused as I was. "Well, what now?" He asked.

Suddenly, eighteen symbols appeared in front of me. I yipped and jumped backwards. "Woah!" The symbols were a transparent blue and floating.

"What is it?" Bash asked.

"I think it's some sort of language," I replied.

"I don't suppose we can just Google-translate it into English?"

"I doubt it." I focused on one of the symbols, trying to figure out what it meant. And surprisingly, I did. I focused on the ones next to it. "Magic," I mumbled.

"What?" Bash asked.

The next thing I know, I could read all the symbols perfectly. The floating ones said 'most powerful magic?' "It's a question," I realized.

"Um, hello? Harvey? What are you talking about?" Bash waved his hand in front of my face, trying to get my attention. But I was too focused on the symbols to care.

I looked around, hoping to find an answer in the symbols on the wall. "Where is it?"

"What are you looking for!?" Bash was starting to get exasperated.

"The answer," I said simply.

"Be more specific please!" He screamed.

"The answer to the question the symbols ask."

"Wait, you can actually read that stuff?"

I shrugged. "Apparently. I have no clue how though. The question asks what the most powerful magic is."

"Well what's the answer?"

"I'll know it when I see it." I looked around the room for a couple more minutes while Bashur asked a billion questions. Eventually found it. The symbol was on a brick in the top corner on a wall. The symbol was a small circle with little stars surrounding it and a flame in the center. It said 'The Seto'. I have absolutely no clue what it means, but my gut said it was the answer.

I placed my hand on the brick and it slid out of the wall into my hand, surrounded by a bluish glow. "Woah!" Bashur said in awe. "How'd you do that Harv?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Just like all the other questions you asked."

"Hey, there's never any harm in asking. So what do we do with the brick?"

I face-palmed. "What do you think my answer is going to be?"

"Right. Sorry."

I placed the brick under the floating symbols. Nothing happened. "Dud magic?" Bash suggested.

"No," I insisted. "That _has_ to be right! Let's try something else."

Well, we tried. And tried. And tried. Nothing ever changed. With each failed attempt I got more and more frustrated. After the twenty-somethingth attempt I lost my cool. I picked up the brick and screamed, "Just work you stupid brick!" Then slammed it on the ground. As soon as it hit, it shattered and the symbol floated up to the others. Then they all disappeared.

"Well..." Bashur's eyes were locked on where the symbols used to be. "That was... interesting. Who knew all we had to do was break something? I'm usually really good at that." I laughed. Bash joined in. Not because his joke was funny, but we were both so stressed that we just needed to laugh.

When we calmed down after maybe five minutes, the room hadn't changed. "So what now?" Bash asked.

I glanced around. "I-" I was interrupted by the walls shaking. All the bricks started to fall. "Duck!" I called to Bash. I knelt down and covered my head with my hands. Bricks kept falling and a couple hit me. Nothing too bad though.

Everything stopped, and I was still alive thankfully. But I didn't stand up or open my eyes until Bashur tapped me on the shoulder. "Dude, you gotta see this."

I slowly opened my eyes and stood up. Then I saw what Bash was talking about. "Woah..." The wall and ceiling of the symbol room had fallen to reveal a black circular room lined with torches, probably as big as my entire house. In the middle of the room was a large golden pedestal with a small purple gem subtlety glowing on it.

"What is that?" Bash asked me, pointing at the gem.

I threw my hands in the air. "Why do you even bother asking anymore? I know as much as you do!"

He shrugged. "Not true. You could read the symbol language thing, so you have to have some idea about what's going on. "

"Well, I don't have an idea. So no more questions please!"

"Sorry. I guess let's just get a closer look then. Maybe if we have any luck, what happened to you back there will happen again."

We both walked up to the pedestal and stared at the gem for a bit. Bash reached out his hand to touch it, but quickly pulled it back when he was a few inches away. "Agh!" His scream echoed. "It shocked me!"

I rolled my eyes. "Really Bash? It's a rock. How can it shock you?"

"Hey, we're in the cave of magicy things. I don't know how anything works!"

"Whatever Bash."

"Well if you don't believe me, why don't you just pick it up?"

"Fine, I will." I grabbed the gem off the pedestal with ease. "See? Eas- AAGH!" I collapsed on the ground, my entire body searing in pain.

"Harvey!" Bashur screamed.

"Silence!" A new voice boomed. The pain stopped and I stood up. In front of me on the pedestal was an older man, maybe in his late fifties, holding the gem in his hands. He wore a purple cloak and a white crown in his gray hair. He also wasn't solid. If you focused, you could see right through him like he was made of water.

He looked straight at me. "You, young sorcerer, have proven your strength, wits, knowledge, and skill. You are the next Seto Sorcerer, the most powerful sorcerer in all the realms." He took the gem and snapped. The next I know the gem was an amulet, the purple gem surrounded by gold on a leather strap. He placed it around my neck. "Use your power wisely." Then he disappeared in a flash of light, leaving me unconscious.

* * *

"Harvey! Harvey, wake up!"

I groaned as Bash shook me. "One sec Bash. I just had the craziest dream..."

"Dude, that wasn't a dream." I sat up straight abruptly, smacking Bash in the forehead. "Ow! Jeez, give me a warning next time! Your head hurts!"

I put my hand on my neck and felt the amulet from before. Same gem and everything. "Holy crap..."

"Yeah, and speaking of which, we need to talk," Bashur said. "First off, why didn't you tell me you were a sorcerer?!"

"Because I'm not!" I replied.

"I don't know. The guy in the room seemed pretty sure about you being a sorcerer."

"I think I would have known if I was a sorcerer."

"Have you ever tried to see if you had powers?"

"Well, no but-"

"Then how would you know?"

I paused. "Good point."

"Well, try it now."

I looked at him like he was crazy. "You can't be serious."

He crossed his arms. "You better believe I'm serious. If my best friend has sorcerer powers, I wanna know."

I put my hands up in defeat. "Fine. How do I figure out if I have powers or not?"

"I don't know. Jump off of a rock and see if you can fly or something."

I climbed up onto the top of the cave. It wasn't too high up, but still about five feet. "Are you sure about this Bash?" I called down.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I've never had super powers before. This is just a guess."

"Wow, thanks Bash," I mumbled.

"Just jump," he said.

So I did. And I fell to the ground with a thunk on my stomach. "Well, I guess we can cross flying off the list," Bash said, standing over me.

I pushed myself up and glared at him. "Yeah, no kidding."

Bashur started to back up. "Woah! Dude, I'm sorry it didn't work! You don't have to burn me!"

"Wha...?" I looked down and saw that my hands were surrounded in purple flames. "Okay, that's pretty awesome." I pointed at the ground and drew a smiley face with the flames. It was really bad, but who cares?! I can shoot fire out of my hands!

"What else can you do?" Bash asked excitedly.

The amulet glowed around my neck. I took it off and it transformed into a book, the purple gem on the cover. I opened it up and glanced through the pages. "Well, it says in here that I can transform into any animal."

"Try it! I wanna see this!" Jeez, Bash seems more excited about my powers than I am.

I closed my eyes and thought about being a wolf. Then when I opened my eyes, I was half my size, on all fours, and Bashur seemed huge. He crouched down to my height and smiled. "Aww... aren't you a cute little puppy," he said in a baby voice. "Yes you are. Yes you are." I growled and he took a step back. "Sorry Harv. I just couldn't resist!"

I transformed into myself again. "Sorry. I guess wolf me doesn't like being called a cute little puppy in a baby voice."

Bash giggled. "Again, couldn't resist. Next!"

We spent the next three hours or so experimenting with my newfound powers. My favorite was still the fire, and Bashur said he's torn between the forcefield and telekinesis. My powers were all pretty weak, but I'm just gonna go with the excuse that it's because I just got them. The book also listed all the potions I could make, which is also really epic. We probably could've stayed there all day, but then we eventually decided that we weren't in that cave for only a couple minutes, and Bash's parents are probably freaking out. So we started down the trail, mainly talking about my powers and the man in the cave.

It was night time when we made it back to our campsite. Connor, Travis, and their parents were sitting by a campfire, looking worried. "What do we do?" I whispered to Bash. "We can't tell them what really happened."

He smirked at me. "No problem. We just do this." He walked over to the edge of the campsite and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hi family!" Making them all jump.

Bashur's mom screamed then got up and hugged us. "Where did you boys go?! You've been gone all day!"

"Sorry mom," Bash said. "When we were hiking, Connor and Travis were so far ahead that we got lost on the trail."

His mom finally let go and smiled. "Well, at least you found your way back." She turned around and glared at Connor and Travis. "And believe me you two, you'll get your punishment for not keeping a closer eye on them. And you two should-"

Bash's dad interrupted her. "Well, it must've been a long day for you boys. Are you hungry?" We both nodded. "Well then, Molly, why don't you go fix the boys something to eat while I go tell the rangers that we found them?"

So they both left, leaving me and Bash with his brothers. Travis leaned forward. "So, how'd you get out?"

Bash gave him a puzzled look. "Get out of what?"

"The cave. Duh." Connor replied. "That's obviously where you went. So, how'd you do it?"

I was worried that we were going to have to tell them what happened, but thankfully Bash already had it covered. "The cave? Harvey wanted to go in there, but I was too afraid. Right Harv?"

I gave a small nod. "Y-yeah."

Neither of them looked convinced. They both stood up and stared at us. "We'll get it out of you two eventually. You can't hide it from us forever." Then they headed to their tent to sleep.

Soon after, Bashur's mom gave us our food then headed off to bed too. We started to talk as soon as we were sure she was gone. "Harv, you really need to work on your lying skills," Bash said in between bites. "You only said one word and it didn't sound convincing."

"Sorry. I've never had to lie before," I told him.

"Well, maybe there's a potion or something in that book that will help you lie better. Speaking of which, where is it?"

I pulled out the amulet from under my hoodie. "It changed back on the way here. I still can't believe this whole thing is real."

"What I can't believe is that my best friend is a sorcerer and I can't tell anyone about it. Do you know how cool it would be to walk into school with your hands on fire? People would never bother us ever again!"

"I know, it's just that I get the feeling that I'm not supposed to tell anyone. You get what I mean?"

He sighed. "Yeah. It's cool. I've read enough comics to understand the whole 'must protect the ones I love' thing." I laughed at his comment. Then he stood up and started towards our tent. "I'm going to bed. Good night Setosorcerer."

I smiled. "Night Bash." Then he disappeared in the tent.

I stared at the orange flames in the campfire, then ignited my own hand. The purple fire seemed so weird after only knowing the orange one.

I thought about what Bash said about this being like a comic book. Sure, the people in them have great powers and do great things. But those things always seem to come at a price. So what's my price?

I extinguished my hand and the campfire then headed towards the tent. Maybe one I'll figure everything out.


	16. Chapter 16

_[Jason's POV]_

My entire class was buzzing when the first bell rang. Today we were going on a field trip to the aquarium in downtown New York, which is ten times better than the two other field trips we've gone on this year. The first one was to a wheat farm, and the other was to a factory. They both were boring beyond belief. So the class was really excited to go on an actual good field trip. Well, everyone except for Ty. Whenever I mentioned it, he would start shaking nervously. He wouldn't tell me why.

When the bus finally showed up, our teacher Mr. Quill gave us a lecture about being good representatives of our school and stuff, then had us all pile into the bus. I sat next to Ty. The trip consisted intense rounds of rock-paper-scissors and thumb war, then a couple minutes of just staring out the window next to me thinking about the aquarium.

A couple months ago, Kelly had taken me to a zoo, and I found it amazing. Even though humans look similar to the people back on my home planet, the other animals here are completely alien. They all look so strange compared to the ones back home. And I heard that sea creatures are even weirder, which is why I'm so excited for this trip.

Soon, the bus stopped and everyone started to jump out. Except for Ty of course. He stayed firmly planted in his seat. And because he wouldn't move, I couldn't move. "C'mon Ty. We don't want to be left behind," I told him.

He shook his head, "Nuh uh. I can't do it."

"Why not? What's so wrong with the aquarium?" I asked.

He sighed. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yeah. You can trust me."

"I'm afraid of water."

I struggled not to laugh when he said that. "How can you be afraid of water?"

"It's a long story. I don't wanna talk about it." He sunk down deeper into his seat.

I sighed to myself. "Ty, the water isn't gonna hurt you. It's water. You're literally made up of seventy percent water." He didn't move. "Fine. If you aren't gonna move, then neither will I." I sat back down in my seat.

"Alright. I'm cool with that," He replied.

"Hey!" The bus driver came back to where we were sitting. "You kids need to get off this bus now!" Well, we did. Ty may be stubborn, but he's not stupid. You don't want to mess with any New York public transportation driver, even if they just drive a school bus.

We walked into the aquarium and Ty looked like the was gonna have a heart attack. I put a hand on his shoulder. "You'll be fine." He nodded, but still looked paranoid.

Our class was nowhere in sight, so we started going around the exhibits by ourselves. I loved reading about and seeing the weird animals. Even Ty seemed interested once he got over the fact that we were standing next to a giant tank of water.

We walked over to a tank labeled 'American Bluefish' which apparently is a newfound species. But there didn't seem to be anything in the tank. We both looked at the plaque talking about the Bluefish. "That's one weird looking fish," Ty commented when he saw the picture.

Something tapped on the glass. "I am _not _a fish!" We both looked up and screamed. The fish had just appeared in front of us, crossing his arms and looking miffed. "I'm an amphibian."

"It talks!" Ty screamed.

It rolled it's eyes. "First off, I'm not an it. I'm a he. My name is Husky. And second, of course I talk. Why wouldn't I talk?"

I cleared my throat. "Well, not many fish-"

"Amphibians."

"Amphibians that I know of can talk to humans."

Husky covered his face and mumbled something. "Sorry. I forget that I'm not supposed to talk to humans. Please don't tell anyone! The only thing worse than sitting in this tank for the rest of my life is being dissected in some government lab for being a talking mudkip."

I made the zipper motion across my lips. "Our lips are sealed."

Ty glanced at the plaque. "Mudkip? This says that you're an American Bluefish."

Husky scowled at it. "Is that what that says? Leave it to those idiots to mess up the name. As if it wasn't enough to kill my sister…"

"Wait, the people here killed your sister?" Ty asked.

Husky nodded sadly. "A few months after they captured us. They didn't take care of her properly and she just died." If he wasn't underwater, I'm sure he would've started crying.

"Hey, it's okay man," I said. "I lost my family too. They died in a war. I'm Jason by the way."

Ty nodded. "I'm Ty. My dad died in a plane crash and the rest of my family hates me."

We all started talking about our families, then moved on to lighter topics. We talked and talked for hours. Eventually I glanced at a clock on the wall. It was ten to two. Crap! "We need to find our class Ty! We're leaving in an hour!"

Ty waved to Husky. "See you later Husky."

He waved back. "Can you guys come back and visit sometime? I didn't realize how much I miss talking to people."

"For sure Husky. See you."

We began walking around the aquarium looking for our class, but the place was huge! After fifteen minutes of searching and not finding anyone, we decided to hang out by the exit. They'd have to go there eventually. But for another five minutes we just stood there and got bored. Still no one showed up. "What kind of teacher doesn't notice two of his students are missing?" Ty mumbled.

"Let's just go kill some time by the gift shop or something," I suggested.

There was a lot of stuff you would expect from an aquarium gift shop in there: t-shirts, hoodies, stuffed sea creatures, snowglobes, backpacks, and jewelry. There was also an assortment of different snacks for some reason. It would've been completely normal if it wasn't for the kid with messy brown hair and a tattered red and black hoodie running around the store shoving whatever he could grab into one of the backpacks. "Is he stealing?" I asked Ty.

Ty rolled his eyes. "No. I'm sure he's just some random rich kid who loves aquarium stuff and likes to run around in old ripped clothes. I'm sure he'll pay for it all."

I walked up behind the kid as he was taking some of the chips from the snack section. "Hey, are you gonna pay for all that stuff? Cause that looks like it's gonna be like a hundred dollars incase you didn't know."

The kid turned around and flashed a fake smile. "Yeah, I know. My mom's gonna pay for it."

I was far from convinced. "Really? Where is she then?"

I swear I saw tears in his caramel eyes for a split second. Then his fake happy demeanor came back. "Here. I think she was looking at the penguins. I got bored and she told me to just come here."

I crossed my arms. "Who are you?"

"I'm Nathan," he replied instantly and stook out his hand. "Nice to meet you."

If I wasn't already suspicious of "Nathan", his lie would've slipped right past me. He's obviously done it before. "I mean really, who are you?"

He gave me a confused look. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I should really go find my mom, so…"

He tried walking around me, but I grabbed his shoulders and pinned him against a wall. "Who. Are. You?"

He froze in shock for a second then replied, "M-Mitch."

"More details," I demanded.

Mitch looked at me with a scared expression, then kneed me in the stomach. I collapsed to the ground and he took off with all the stuff. Once Ty got out of his state of shock, he walked over and helped me up. "That was… intense."

I coughed and held my stomach. "Yeah, no kidding. We should tell someone about him. He was so good at lying, he has to have done this before."

"Let's not tell someone," Ty said. "They won't believe us. Besides, there has to be security cameras around here somewhere, right? The adults will take care of it."

I took a few steady breaths in and out. "I guess. I hate people who think they don't have to listen to the rules though."

Ty smirked. "Goody-goody."

I flicked him in the arm. "Shut up."

Soon the rest of the class showed up and we left for the bus. Well, after Mr. Quill apologized for not noticing we were gone and telling us not to tell our parents. Then we left. On the bus ride back I couldn't help but think about Husky and Mitch. Why could Husky talk? Why was Mitch stealing all that stuff? Can all fish- I mean, amphibians- talk? Why did Mitch get all teary-eyed when he mentioned his mom? Where did Husky really come from? Because it seemed like he was really comfortable doing something he's not supposed to do. Mitch too, for that matter.

"You okay Jason?" Ty asked. "You have a weird look on your face."

"I'm just thinking is all."

"You think too much," he replied.

I smiled. "Yeah. Maybe I do. Too late to change that now. How about some rock-paper-scissors?"

Ty put his hand in a fist. "Finally! Watching you think is really boring."


	17. Chapter 17

**(Hi guys! Long time, no see. Remember me? Cuz I remember you! No, really I do. I mean, it's not like it's been a month since I've last updated... *checks date* Holy crap! It's been a month since I last updated! But really, I'm so so so so sorry about that. I feel terrible. I'll try to make my excuse brief. So after my last update, I went to start writing this chapter. But then my good friend writer's block decided to come and visit. So that combined with the fact that I was really busy during August with various things = no chapter. So again, I'm really sorry about that. I promise that I'll try to be more consistent with updates from here on out. I'm trying for every week or every other week at least. No more month long waits. So do you forgive me 3:? Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter guys! See ya :) )**

_[Mitch's POV]_

I climbed up Jerome's and my tree with my new haul of food I "found" by a fast food place. It turns out that before he knew me, Jerome only ate raw fish. He wouldn't even cook it because of 'bacca tradition' or whatever. Well, I told him that wasn't going to work out if we were going to live together. So I introduced him to human food. Now he demands that I go to different places and bring back food every week. I can't say I mind. I usually come back with a treat for myself too.

I pushed open the trapdoor and looked at Jerome sitting on a beanbag, playing "Super Mario Bros" on an old NES and TV I found one day while looking for food down in Pennsylvania. Don't ask me how I managed to haul an NES, three games, a slightly cracked ten inch TV, and a bunch of cheesesteaks from Pennsylvania back to the deep Canada woods. I guess that's just the power of a bored nine year old.

"Die Bowser! DIE!" Jerome screamed, pressing the buttons furiously.

I sat down on the beanbag next to him. "Having fun there Jerome?"

"I don't understand you humans and your video games," he said, not taking his eyes off the screen.

I shrugged. "Hey, you're the one playing them."

"Whatever," he said, pausing the game and turning to look at me. "So, what did you get for dinner?"

I zipped open the aquarium backpack I'd gotten a couple months back. My first and only time I ever got close to being caught. But I'd gotten a bunch of decent stuff out of it, so it was worth it. I used the backpack to carry the food and other things I find on my random treks. "I got some chicken nuggets, french fries, three burgers, and a cookie."

Jerome pulled one of the fried foods out of the bag and bit into it. Then immediately spit it back out as I laughed. "BLAGH! What _is _that?!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I also grabbed some fish sticks. How are those anyways?" I replied with a smirk.

"You son of a…" Jerome growled. He reached into the bag again and threw one of the chicken nuggets at my head.

"Hey!" I pouted. "That's not nice!" I picked up a burger and threw it at his face.

Jerome smirked as he peeled the burger off his fur. "Oh, it's on now!"

So for the next twenty minutes or so, we ran around the small tree house, throwing various junk foods at each other until the backpack was empty. Except for the cookie. I looked around the room at all the crumbs, ketchup, mustard, and grease stains. It looked like a real war had just went down. Smelled like it too. I took out the cookie from the bag and headed over to the beanbag Jerome was hiding behind. I broke the cookie in half and handed it to him. "Peace cookie?"

He smiled and chomped the cookie down in one bite. "Ahh... that was fun."

I sat down next to him. "Yeah, but now we kinda don't have any food. I'm gonna have to go out tomorrow and grab some stuff."

"Can you get some pizza from New York?" he asked, his mouth watering. "I could really go for some of that."

"You know that'll take me like, six days, right? Six days for you without food."

He waved that thought away. "That's fine. I'll just live off my old raw fish diet again until you get back. No big deal."

I sighed. "If you insist Jerome. I might as well go to bed now then." I headed over to my bed/old couch cushions held together with duct tape and a giant stuffed bear for a pillow. Hey, we're a nine year old kid and a furry animal (I think Jerome is my age, but I never really asked) living in a Canadian forest. We make do with what we have. I covered myself with my hoodie and closed my eyes.

Just before I could fall asleep, I felt Jerome's paw poke my shoulder. "What Jerome?" I moaned. "Come to clarify what pizza toppings you want?"

He smirked for just a second, but then got serious. "I just want to ask what's going on at night," he said. "For the past week, you've been screaming in your sleep. Is everything okay?"

I slapped a fake smile on my face. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just some weird nightmares is all. Nothing too bad."

He didn't leave. "You're terrible at lying Mitch. I may be a bacca, but I'm not stupid. You've been screaming every night, you always wake up sweating, and then you seem on edge for the rest of the day. What's going on?"

I sat up and looked him in the eye. "It's nothing Jerome. Just nightmares. Really, I'm fine. Now I'm gonna go to sleep."

He stayed still for a second just staring at me, then he shrugged and headed for the door. "Whatever you say Mitch. But we are friends, so if you ever want to talk about something, I'm here for you. Okay?"

I smiled and laid back down on my bed. "Yeah. Same to you buddy."

"And Mitch?"

"What?"

"Raw anchovies, sausage, and pepperoni on the pizza."

"Got it. Good night."

"Night Mitch." Then he left the room and I finally fell asleep.

* * *

Okay, so maybe I _have _been waking up in the middle of the night screaming lately. And maybe those nightmares are a bigger deal then I made them seem.

After what happened a couple of years ago, with the crash and Herobrine and other stuff I don't like to think about, it haunted me as I ran. But once I met Jerome and we became friends, the nightmares stopped, my anxiety lessened, and I almost completely forgot about Herobrine. I was happy for a long time.

Then one day last week, the nightmares started up again from out of nowhere. The same nightmare as before, but it didn't make it any less terrifying. Tonight's nightmare seemed no different. I was in the hospital hallway, except it was so long I couldn't see the end and it was lined with beds. Each bed had a different person in it, sleeping peacefully.

The dream propelled me forward past everything else until I came to a bed with my mom in it. She looked just like she did when Herobrine showed her to me in the hospital all those years ago. Her face pale almost like a ghost's, a couple burn scars on her face, and when she looked at me her eyes were bloodshot. I stood next to her, trying hard not to cry. She smiled at me and put her hand on my cheek. "You're going to do great things Mitch. I know. Your dad knew, too." She gripped my dog tags and ran her finger across the front one, changing the name from Mitch to BajanBrine. "You'll do so much more in this world than anyone else. If you see an opportunity, take it. Make us proud Mitch," she whispered. Then she closed her eyes and Herobrine appeared behind me.

"You heard her," he said. "I'm giving you an opportunity to be great. To rule." He snapped his fingers and a blue sword appeared in my hands. "Take the opportunity Mitchell. Use the power I gave you. And if you don't do this for me, do it for your mother and father."

This would usually be the part of the dream where all the sick and wounded people in the hospital beds would get up like zombies and start screaming and clawing at me, asking why I was doing this to them, like I was the one who put them in the hospital. That would usually cause me to wake up with a scream and in a cold sweat immediately. Sometimes it would last for a couple minutes. But this time, nothing happened. The people in the beds remained still, and I was left staring at Herobrine.

"I said," Herobrine muttered, "Take the opportunity Mitchell. Do you even know what you're capable of? You could get whatever you want on a whim. You could be above every other power in this universe. Your parents will be so proud of you if you become more than what you are right now. Look at you. You're nothing but a orphan boy, running from his troubles so he doesn't have to face them. They would be disappointed. Come with me for them, Mitch. Take this amazing opportunity and make them proud."

I looked at the sword and saw my reflection in it. I looked like a little Herobrine with a hoodie. That's what he wanted. To make me like him. I never really realized it before. He was using me for something. I don't know what, but I do know that I don't want any part of it. I looked into his blank eyes and said, "No."

Herobrine looked at me with a confused look for a second, then laughed. "Do you not know what I'm offering you Mitchell? A whole world just for you, to do whatever you want with. The power to do anything you could imagine. If you wanted to, I'm sure there's a way to even bring your little furry friend into the picture. But don't you see how awesome this could be?" The hospital beds and hallway faded around me, then a glittering golden throne appeared in a giant room, filled with everything I could ever want. "This and much, much more could be yours Mitchell," Herobrine said. "Just realize what you're really meant to be."

I stared at the room. It was really tempting to go sit on that throne, and I started to walk towards it. I stopped when I got at the foot of it, though. What would I have to do to get to this place, though? If there was one thing that I learned from being on the run, it's that nothing came without consequence. I gripped my hand tighter around the hilt of the sword and grit my teeth. "I. Said. NO!" Then I sprinted towards Herobrine and tackled him to the ground and put the sword to his neck. "No. I said no and I'm gonna keep saying no, so stop trying to bribe me. Cause it's not gonna work."

Herobrine didn't seem remotely fazed by what I said. In fact, he even smiled. "Hm. So you're going to play by the prophecy rules, are you? Well, I expected it, but it never hurts to try to work around things a little bit earlier. You'll come around eventually Mitchell. Don't you worry about that. It will just take a little more time then I was hoping for. But you are already on your way."

"What prophecy?" I asked. "What are you talking about?"

He chuckled. "Ambitious little nine year old, aren't you? You'll find out eventually, Mitchell. Now, I believe that this will be the end of my little visits for a bit. Good bye Mitchell. I look forward to seeing you come to your senses." His eyes flashed, then the whole world faded into white.

* * *

I woke up in my bed, and sat straight up. The nightmare… what happened? Why was it different than the other times before? Did I do something to change it? I don't think I really did anything different up until Herobrine started talking. Maybe he really was out there somewhere, controlling my nightmares. But if he is, then why did it change this time? And what was that prophecy thing he was talking about?

"Too many questions, Mitch," I told myself. "Don't over complicate things. It'll just make it worse. Just be glad he said it'll be the last one for awhile."

I glanced out my little window at the horizon. Jerome refused to get a clock for some reason, so I eventually learned how to tell what time it was by looking at the sky. It looked like it was about six am, with the sun just starting to peak over the horizon. "Well, I'm up," I sighed, rubbing my eyes. "I might as well go." I put my hoodie on and grabbed my backpack, then headed down the tree. Back to New York, I guess.

* * *

It took me about two days to get to New York, but I finally made it. I was maybe about fifteen minutes outside of the city, and I was starving. As I walked down the sidewalk, my stomach growled for a solid minute. "Why do you have to be so far away, city?" I mumbled. "All I need is some food. Is that too much to ask?"

As I walked, I spotted a school with kids playing on the playground. It must've been around noon. I smirked. "Lunch time. Score." I climbed over the chain-link fence in an abandoned corner of the schoolyard, then hid and waited for the kids to head inside. When the teacher blew the whistle, all the kids started to run inside like a stampede of cows. I just simply slipped in with the rest of the herd and bam! I'm in.

While everyone else stood in line waiting for their food, I walked casually into the kitchen and hid under a table. Yeah, yeah, I know. Pretty obvious hiding spot. But really, no one ever looks under here. I've done this at at least seven different schools, and I've never been caught. I can't believe it either. But hey, I get free food. I'm not complaining.

I waited for the kids to all get their food and sit down. Then all the lunch ladies grabbed their own food and went to wherever lunch ladies go after they serve lunch. Then I made my move. I slid out from under the table and started eating the leftover food. Mmm… chicken nuggets, rice, fruit and a couple brownies. Not sure if it's all real, but I really don't care at this point. I started shoveling the food down.

I was just about to eat my first brownie when I heard someone go, "Hey!" I turned around and saw a kid in a white t-shirt, black pants, and a headset on top of his long brown hair standing by the door holding an empty lunch tray. "You're that kid from the aquarium!" The aquarium… from a couple months ago? This guy was there? Great. That means the other guy is here too. Of the millions of schools in New York, I just _had _to steal food from the one with the only two people who ever caught me.

I quickly glanced around for an escape. Headset kid was standing by the only exit. Crap. I'll just have to play dumb. Maybe he'll fall for it. I gave him a confused look. "Sorry? I've never been to the aquarium around here. I just moved here from Canada and I came in late today. The lunch ladies just told me to take my lunch from in here. So, don't mind me."

Headset guy raised an eyebrow. "Sorry. My family constantly lies to me. I'm good at figuring that stuff out. Besides, the backpack kinda gives it away. Mitch, right? What are you even doing here? How'd you get in?"

I sigh. I know when I've been defeated. "Look Headset-"

"Ty," he said.

"Ty, I have a bit of a problem. In case you haven't figured it out, I'm poor. I pretty much have nothing. My mom died in a plane crash when I was five and I never knew my dad. I'm desperate. Just please don't tell anyone I take things. It's all I can do if I really don't want to go to some orphanage."

His expression softened a little bit. "Wait, your mom died in a plane crash?" I nodded, even though I wondered what this had to do with anything. Ty smiled a bit. "Well, we have something in common then. My dad died in a plane crash too." He looked around the corner then tossed me his tray. "Fill it."

"Wait, what?"

"Fill it with food then follow me."

I looked at the tray then back at Ty. "Seriously, what?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm getting you food. Duh. I can't let you steal, so I'll pay for it."

"Uh… okay. Thanks?" Well, that took a turn for the better. I expected him to call a teacher or something to deal with me.

I put some food on the tray then followed him to a woman standing by a computer. "Excuse me, Ms. Chace, can you scan my card again?"

The woman looked at us. "What for Ty?"

Ty pointed to me. "My friend, Mitch. He's an exchange student from… Where are you from again?"

"Uh...Canada."

"Yeah. Canada. Anyway, he just arrived and came a little bit late, so I'm getting his lunch."

Ms. Chase eyed me for a second, then smiled and me. "Well, nice to meet you, Mitch. I'm sure you'll like it here. Can I see your lunch card, Ty?" Ty handed her his little card thing then we walked over to a lunch table with another kid sitting alone. He had wavy brown hair, a NASA shirt, and looked very familiar… oh no. I stopped walking.

"What's wrong Mitch?" Ty asked.

I pointed at the wavy haired kid. "If I remember right, he hates me and will try to kill me."

Ty laughed. "Who, Jason? Nah. He just doesn't like rule breakers. Once you explain your situation, I'm sure he'll understand. C'mon."

So we walked over to the table and sat down. Jason immediately remembered our little encounter at the aquarium. "What are _you_ doing here? Shouldn't you be robbing a comic store?"

"Shouldn't you be tackling random people?" I replied.

"I was trying to stop you from robbing the gift shop."

"Great job at doing that."

Ty rubbed his temples. "Seriously, you two just met and I already can feel a headache coming on. Jason, just hear Mitch out. Mitch, explain."

I explained my situation to Jason, who still didn't seem to like me by the end of my little story. "That doesn't give you an excuse to go around stealing things! You could ask for help from someone or something," he said, glaring.

"Jeez, Jason," Ty said shaking his head. "The guy lost his mom, never knew his dad, and was forced to at age five to fend for himself so he wouldn't go to an orphanage. Have some sympathy."

"He still shouldn't steal things!"

"Well, what would you do in my situation?" I asked him. "Seriously. I'm open to suggestions. If it doesn't land me in an orphanage, I'm all for it."

He slouched down in his seat and grunted, "Whatever." We spent the rest of the lunch time in silence.

* * *

So, apparently Ty took the whole 'I'm his exchange student' thing really seriously. After lunch, I was about to leave when Ty dragged me to their classroom, much to Jason's and my dismay. Ty told his teacher our fake story, including how we met (in a bus one day while I was on vacation), where I was from (Montreal), and why his mom didn't bother to tell him (she forgot). Funny thing; he bought all of it. He just needed some head nods from me to confirm it. I'll have to compliment Ty's lying skills later.

The teacher sandwiched me between Ty and Jason and gave me some paper to write on along with all the books to put in my desk. Ty lent me a pencil to write with. The teacher started rambling on and on about some science-y thing that I didn't understand. I tried to just doodle on my paper, but Jason kept poking and glaring at me. "Pay attention."

"Dood, I haven't been to school since kindergarten. I don't even know what half the words he's saying mean."

"You could at least put some effort into trying to understand!"

"Ahem," the teacher said from up front. "Jason, Mitch, do you two have something to say?"

Jason blushed and looked down at his notes, clearly embarrassed. Fine. I don't like him, but I'll cover for him. "Sorry sir. I was just a little confused on the notes, so I asked Jason to help me. So it was my fault we were talking."

The teacher sighed. "It's alright, Mitch. Just next time, ask me your questions. Got it?"

"Yes sir," I said. Jason gave me a thankful look then went back to taking notes. Then the class went on as normal, except when I doodled on my paper, Jason didn't say anything.

The next thing I know, a piece of paper was slammed on my desk. On it were different letters that made words that I didn't understand. I glanced over at Ty and Jason. They were both filling out the paper with ease. So was everyone else in the class. I tapped Jason on the shoulder. "Uh... what is this?" I asked.

"Homework," he replied nonchalantly.

"Like, school work that we do when we aren't at school?" I asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"No reason." He went back to his homework and I stared at the paper, completely disgusted with the idea of it. Who gives extra work for kids to do in their free time? These people are cruel.

Focus, Mitch. You're gonna be here for awhile obviously, so you have to do this, "homework" no matter how stupid it is. I looked over the sheet and tried to make sense of the words on the page and write down what I thought was the answer. What happened next was a bunch of scribbles that I tried to make look like letters in the questions. I still didn't know what any of it meant.

Apparently I looked really frustrated, because Jason looked over at my paper and asked, "Do you need some help Mitch?"

I shook my head. "No. I'm fine."

"No, I'm pretty sure you need help," he said. "Your answers don't make any sense and I can barely read them. I'm pretty sure some of those aren't even letters."

I blushed and looked down at my pencil. "I...uh...can't read or write," I whispered.

Jason looked shocked. "What?!" He whisper shouted. "How can you not know how to read and write?"

"I've been on the run ever since my mom died, so I never really learned to read since I was just starting kindergarten. And I haven't written a letter since then either."

Jason looked like he had just heard about the most terrible tragedy ever. "You can't be serious!"

"Jason! Mitch!" The teacher yelled from his desk. "Other people are trying to work, so you two better be quiet or I'll have to move you two! Understand?" We both shut up. I looked back at the paper and glowered. I already hate school.


	18. Chapter 18

_[Mitch's POV]_

After another few hours of frustration with words, a huge alarm went off, making me jump. "Dude, chill," Ty said. "It's just the bell for the end of the day."

I sat back down and took a deep breath. "Right. What does that mean?"

"It means it's time to go home," he said, walking out of the classroom with me and Jason trailing behind him. They both opened their lockers and put their stuff in a backpack, while I just stood there awkwardly with my homework. I planned on burning it the first chance I get.

The three of us walked out of the school and around the front, where I guess we go our separate ways. "Well, thanks for covering for me guys. And for giving me food. I guess I better get going."

I started to walk away, but Ty called after me, "Wait! You're have to come back tomorrow!"

"Why?" I asked him. "I'm not planning on staying here for long. I just came to New York for some food."

Ty shook his head. "Not anymore. Exchange students usually stay for about a month. If you don't stay, the adults will make us give your secret away. Well, that and we'll probably get in trouble."

"A month?!" I almost screamed. "I'm not staying here for a month!"

"Hey, we gave you food and didn't give you away, even after the whole aquarium thing," Jason said, folding his arms. "You owe us."

I groaned. "Fine. I'll see you tomorrow then."

I started to walk away, but again, Ty stopped me. "Where are you gonna go?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Somewhere by a restaurant, I guess. I'll snag some food and sleep under a doorway or something. I'll live."

Jason scrunched his nose up in disgust. "No, no, no. I'm not gonna let you steal things. You can come with me to my house. Besides, you need help with your homework and some new, not ripped dirty clothes. And a shower. Definitely a shower. No offence, you smell like you haven't bathed in years." I tried to say no to Jason, but he wouldn't have any of it. I was going to his house whether I liked it or not. I guess it can't be that bad. It'll be nice to have a real bed and someone else make a meal for me. Hopefully Jerome won't mind.

We said goodbye to Ty, then walked to Jason's house. It was only four blocks away, but it was the longest four blocks I've ever walked in my life. Despite the fact that Jason had volunteered to let me crash at his house, I can tell that he still couldn't stand me. We walked in awkward silence the entire way, making it seem three times longer.

When Jason finally turned onto another street, I felt I had suddenly came to a place where a builder had made one house, then pressed copy and paste down the entire road. All the houses were two stories, white, had a black roof, and a glass door. "How can you tell the difference between your house and the others? Have you ever just walked into your neighbor's house and been like 'oh. This isn't my house. Maybe if there had been some variety between all these houses, I would've picked the right one'?"

Jason glared at me like I had personally offended him. "There are little details. If you would bother to look closely, maybe you would see that every house is really different."

I looked at the other houses while we walked, this time looking for subtle details. "Nope. Still don't see it."

He sighed. "Never mind. My home is right up here," he pointed to one of the houses at the end of the street. "And whatever I say to my parents, just go along with it, okay?"

"Yeah. Whatever." We walked up the driveway and then into the house. I have to admit, I felt tears swell up in my eyes a bit. The last time I was in a real house was with my mom before the crash. I forgot how nice they were. When you walked into Jason's house, you walked right into the living room that had grey furniture with colorful pillows on them. There was also a TV on top of a black table with a Wii next to it. Right next to the living room was the kitchen and dining room. In the kitchen were two people talking to each other. Probably Jason's parents.

"Kelly, Dan, I'm home!" he called then ran into the woman's arms. They both smiled and hugged him and asked him how his day went. Jason started to ramble on and on about school, while I stood in the background, perfectly fine with not being noticed

Of course it didn't last long. The man, Dan I guess, looked over his son's shoulder and made eye contact with me. I waved sheepishly. "Hi."

"And who might this be Jason?" He asked in a tone that I couldn't figure out. It sounded like a mixture of curiosity, friendliness, and a bit of irritation.

Jason looked back at me like he had forgotten I was even there. "Oh yeah. This is my friend Mitch. He's an exchange student from Toronto. He came to our class awhile ago, and every student is taking a week with him. I'm really sorry I forgot to tell you about it. I meant to, but I kept getting distracted when I was going to tell you." Wow. I need to give this guy a bit more credit. His lying skills are on point.

Kelly and Dan both gave me warm smiles. "Well, nice to meet you Mitch," Kelly said. "And if you need anything, feel free to ask me or Dan." I nodded. "Do you like pizza Mitch?"

"Yeah! What kind of person doesn't?!" I responded a bit too enthusiastically.

They both chuckled. "Good thing you like it," Dan said. "Because that's what we're having for dinner. Is pepperoni okay?" I nodded again. "Okay then. I'll call right now. Jason, why don't you take Mitch to the guest room?"

Jason led me upstairs to his room first. He opened his door and I saw what could've been outer space. His walls were dark blue with stars and planets covering everything. He had a bookshelf filled with different space books, and a couple of telescopes. His bed was white with bed sheets that looked like the moon. Next to his bed was a black desk with a map of the sky and several pictures of smart looking people. Probably rocket scientists or something. "You like space?" I asked.

He nodded and looked at his star map. "I just think that it's so interesting, you know? The fact that our world is just one small part of something so big and mysterious. There's infinite things to learn about space." He turned and smiled at me. "And when I get older, I'm gonna be the first one to go to a different planet."

"Wow. I've never thought about space much. Or what I'm going to do when I'm an adult. I've mainly been worried about what I'm gonna eat the next day." I said, glancing at one of his telescopes.

"Well, I guess that's just one more difference between you and me." He started rummaging through his closet, then tossed me some clean clothes. "Here. Bathroom's down the hall. Please do the world a favor and go take a shower. Then come back here."

I looked at him skeptically. "Why?"

Jason just rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna teach you how to read and write. Duh. You're not going to get anywhere in life if you don't know how, and if you get a job somehow, you don't have to break the law anymore. And I'm all for getting people to follow rules."

I smiled at him. "Thanks Jason. I guess you don't hate me as much as I thought."

"No, I still hate you. Don't get your hopes up. Just go take a shower

I walked down to the bathroom and turned on the shower, then looked in the mirror. I haven't seen my reflection in years, and I was shocked by what I saw. For one thing, my hoodie hung very loosely on me like I was a mannequin. When I lifted it up, I could see a bit of my ribs. It could've been a lot worse, but I could still just barely see them. My face was really thin and dirty. My caramel eyes looked tired and had bags under them. My hair was matted in some places and definitely really dirty. My entire body was covered in bruises and scrapes. And overall, I just looked way older than nine.

Once I got over my look, I took my shower then changed into the clothes Jason gave me. It was simply a plain white t-shirt and black sweatpants, but since I had been wearing the same used clothes for about five months now (I know, disgusting. But clothes aren't exactly the highest thing on my priority list), it felt kinda weird to put on clean ones. I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to get some of the knots out. I went to put on my hoodie, then realized it was gone. I sprinted down to Jason's room and slammed open the door. "Where's my hoodie?" I demanded.

He glanced up from his book and gave me a confused look. "What?"

"My hoodie Jason. Where. Is. It?"

He shrugged then went right back to reading his book. "Kelly might have it. Ask her."

I ran down the stairs into the living room, where Kelly and Dan were sitting watching TV while Kelly worked on something with some fabric and a sewing needle... my hoodie? I walked over and tapped her on the shoulder. "Uh... excuse me, Kelly? What are you doing with my hoodie?"

Kelly looked up from her work and smiled. "Oh, hi Mitch. Well, I noticed that you seemed to really liked it, but it wasn't really in the best shape, was it?" I shook my head. All of my clothes had several rips and holes from over the years, and my hoodie since I wore it everywhere, got the worst of it. Besides just rips and holes, it also had many stains, loose strings, and part of one sleeve was halfway torn off. "I threw away all you other clothes," Kelly continued, "but I thought that you might like to keep this. So I washed it, and now I'm going to patch it up for you." She showed me her progress so far. It looked almost exactly like it did when I first got it. "I'm also going to make it a bit bigger, since it seems a bit small on you. Is that alright?"

I had a huge smile on my face. "Yeah. Thanks." I gave her a big hug, which seemed to surprise her as well as me, then headed back upstairs to Jason's room for my reading and writing lesson.

* * *

So my first little lesson from Jason didn't go very well. He tried to teach me to read one of those picture books, but I couldn't figure out any the words. They all just looked like random squiggles on the paper. I also found out that Jason got frustrated easily. Sure, he was fairly good about not showing it too much, but I could still tell. He would tell me a word when I couldn't figure it out (so every word) in a tense tone, and would make a fist. When he didn't think I was looking, he would shoot me a little glare. Yeah, he still doesn't like me.

Thankfully, our lesson ended when Kelly called us down to dinner. While we ate our pizza, Dan and Kelly asked me about myself. Half of my answers were lies. But they didn't ask much about my family, which I found kinda weird. Not that I'm complaining.

Soon they sent me and Jason off to bed so we could wake up early for school tomorrow (seriously, we have to wake up early too? I'm starting to like school less and less). We both brushed our teeth then went off to our rooms. I tried to sleep, but it didn't work very well. I wasn't used to sleeping in this setting, so I had trouble getting comfortable.

During my struggle to fall asleep, I heard a door quietly creak open. I got up from my bed and saw Jason, sneaking down the hallway. And since I had nothing better to do, I followed. I stayed back quite a ways though, just incase he didn't want me to hear him.

We headed down the stairs towards the living room, where I could hear Kelly and Dan's voices. Once Jason got to the bottom, he peaked his head around the corner so he could see them. I stayed a couple of steps up where I could still hear what they were saying. "Jason has never lied to us Kelly," Dan was saying. "Maybe Mitch really is just an exchange student in a weird situation. Maybe his family is dealing with some hard times or something."

"Really Dan? Who are you trying to fool?" Kelly asked. "Jason comes back from school with a boy who is skinnier than a stick, in small and ripped clothes that have obviously never been washed, and looking like he's never slept a day in his life, and you are saying that his family is poor? And they sent him to New York to a private school because that would help? And even if for some reason that was the case, why would he not have clean clothes? Or look like a skeleton?" Silence for a good thirty seconds. "We should help him Dan. He obviously needs it desperately."

"No, no, no." Dan said in an exasperated tone. "I don't know how you convinced me the first time Kelly, but I most certainly am not cracking again. One kid is enough! Our house is not an orphanage!"

"So we do what Dan? Send him back from where he came from? He'll probably die, considering the shape he's in now! Maybe he came here for a reason. Maybe we're supposed to take him in." Another few seconds of silence. "We have enough money Dan," Kelly continued. "What are you so afraid of?"

"I'm afraid for Jason," he admitted. "When my parents adopted my baby sister, I felt neglected for months. I don't want to do the same thing to Jason."

"This is different Dan. The boys are both the same age, and we're always so busy. It'll be nice for Jason to have a brother to talk to while we're working. We'll be helping Jason as well as Mitch. And we'll make sure to give both boys the same amount of attention, so no one will feel left out."

"...Alright. Let's do it."

"WHAT?!" Jason and I both screamed from around the corner at the same time.

Dan sighed and Kelly chuckled. "I should've guessed that you two would be down here. Come over here you guys."

Jason and I came out of hiding, then sat down on the couch by Kelly and Dan. "You're adopting me?" I asked them.

They both nodded. "You heard our reasons," Kelly said. "But do you _want _us to adopt you? That's really what matters here. If you choose not to stay, that's completely fine. But we would love to have you here."

Do I want to be adopted by Kelly and Dan? Sure, they've been nothing but kind to me, giving me a place to sleep, Kelly fixing my hoodie, cleaning me up, and giving me the best meal I've had since the crash. And Jason had offered to let me stay here, along with helping me learn to read and write, even if it was a complete failure at this point. He also didn't rat me out at the aquarium a couple months ago or at the school, which I'm incredibly thankful for. But there was still Jerome back in Canada. He was my only friend for the longest time, even if he was a bit weirded out by me at times. How could I just leave him without notice? Jason still seems to hate me and shows no sign of dropping his grudge. Dan and Kelly, no matter how nice, are still practically strangers. After all, I had only met them a couple hours ago. It took a while, but I made up my mind. "I'd like to stay," I told them finally. Hopefully Jerome would understand.

Kelly hugged me and Dan smiled. "Welcome to the family Mitch. Now seriously, it's almost midnight. Both of you better go to bed, right now." Jason and I both said goodnight then headed upstairs.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled as Jason walked into his room.

"For what?" He asked.

"Well, it's pretty obvious you hate me. And now you have to live with me."

He shrugged. "Meh. I'll live. Besides, I don't hate you. I hate what you were doing. This could be like a clean slate. Just don't go back to stealing and we should get along just fine."

I smiled at him, then walked down the hall to my room. "No promises. Good night Jason."

"G'night Mitch."


	19. Chapter 19

_[Adam's POV]_

I stared at the clock on the wall, watching the second hand move way slower then it should while my fourth grade teacher talked about what her weekend was going to be like. And considering she is well above seventy, the talk was incredibly long and boring. No Mrs. Evans, I do not care about your early morning power walk and how we kids need to get outside more often and blah blah blah. And guess what? No one else cares about what you're saying either. The only thing anyone in this classroom cares about at the moment, is actually getting to the weekend, which is taking forever!

Finally, the clock hit three thirty, and everyone darted out of the classroom out into the parking lot where our parents picked us up. The weekend has officially begun! I stood next to Ian as I waited, and we talked about random things like TV shows and the epic new video games he had just gotten for his birthday. Then in the middle of our conversation, one of our classmates, a tall blonde boy named Ethan, walked over and smiled at us. "Hey guys!"

"Hi Ethan. What's up?" I asked.

He handed me and Ian both a piece of paper with balloons on it. "Well, my birthday is this weekend, and that's the invite to my party at the arcade downtown! It's gonna be super cool! The entire class is invited. There's gonna be pizza, prizes and different contests too. So do you think you can come guys?"

Ian immediately nodded. "Yeah. We'll both be there. It sounds awesome."

Ethan gave us a huge smile. "Great! Maybe for a gift, you could get me some sunglasses like yours. Then I could be part of the sunglasses crew!"

All three of us laughed. Ian and I, for obvious reasons, both have to wear our sunglasses at all times, including school. Nobody ever really seemed to mind except Mrs. Evans, who thought it was disrespectful for some reason and frequently tried to get us to take our glasses off. It never worked, which always made her mad. One day, for a joke, the entire class came in wearing sunglasses, and boy was she furious! But anyways, after that whole scenario, anyone who came to school wearing sunglasses was considered part of the sunglasses crew. So for most of the year, It was just me and Ian.

Ethan said goodbye to us then went on handing out his party invitations. "This party is going to be so awesome!" Ian exclaimed.

"Yeah," I replied half heartedly. "I bet you'll have fun at that. I wish I could go."

"Wait, what can't you go?" Ian asked.

"The same reason I can't go to any other party. My dad's worried about, you know, my glasses."

Ian rolled his eyes. "Seriously dude? I pretty much have the same problem as you. I'm fine at all these parties. I bet if you asked your dad, he'd let you go."

"You don't know my dad," I mumbled miserably.

"It's worth a shot Sky."

I playfully punched him in the arm. "I told you to stop calling me that!"

He laughed. "Sorry, sorry! I couldn't resist! But really, just ask your dad. If he cares about you, he'll let you go."

* * *

"Come on Dad! You _have_ to let me go!"

"No, Adam. That's my final answer."

"Just let me go dad!" I whined. "Everyone is going! I get left out of everything, because you don't let me do anything!"

"Adam, you know why I don't let you go to parties like that," he reminded me.

"Yeah, yeah, it gets too crazy and my glasses may get knocked off and blah blah blah. I don't care anymore!"

"This isn't a joke Adam! Do you remember the last time your glasses came off? Do I need to remind you that Darren, four years after the incident, is _still _in the mental hospital, and not getting any better?" That sentence stung. Yes, I still felt terrible for what happened to Darren. But at the moment, my rage was in control, and that just fed the fire.

"Oh, so is that what this is about? I'm not allowed to go have fun because a bully got what he deserved?!"

"Adam! He may have been a bully, but he did not deserve to be driven insane!"

"Hey, he was the one who took off my glasses. He was practically asking for it. But that was four years ago! So what if that happened?! I'm older now. I can control it even if my glasses did come off!"

"You know that's not true Adam! I don't know where your ability came from or how it works, but I do know that it can't be controlled. It's too dangerous, and I know that you don't want to hurt anyone."

"Oh really? You don't think I can do anything with my life because I'm too dangerous?"

"That's not what I said-"

"Well, I can control my eyes if I want to! I can do whatever I want!" Now don't ask what came over me next. Rage does weird things to me. I was always so cautious about my eyes, because I knew what they were capable of. But in that moment, I was so angry and resentful about what I thought was my dad not having faith in me, I took any caution I ever had and chucked it a thousand miles away. In that moment, I didn't think, and didn't care. I took off my sunglasses, threw them down at the ground, and stared my dad square in the eye.

At first, nothing happened. But that only lasted a second. Then my dad's face morphed into an expression of pain. He started to scream too. "Agh! It burns! Agh!"

I kept my eyes on him and didn't look away. I thought he was just faking to prove a point. He'd have to stop eventually. But he never did. He just kept on screaming about burns, then collapsed on the ground. That's when I realized this was serious. "Dad!" I ran over to him and shook him. "Stop screaming! Please! You're not burning!" But he kept screaming, and I burst into tears. Did I drive my dad into insanity like Darren? Or something worse?

After awhile of sobbing into my dad's shoulder, I stood up and ran out the door. I didn't want to hear him scream anymore. When I got downtown, I walked along the sidewalk, making sure to keep my eyes down. As if I wasn't stupid enough to just look at my dad with my eyes, I also had to break my glasses. Now I can't even look at anyone!

Suddenly, I felt someone grab my wrist and yank me into an alley. I was about to scream, but the stranger covered my mouth. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "I just need to talk." He let go of my mouth, but kept hold of my wrist so I couldn't run. "Now, if you don't mind, could you look at me for a second?"

I shook my head. "You don't understand mister. If I look at you, bad things will happen to you."

"Maybe to others," the man said, "but not to me. Now, please, look at me." I still refused. I wouldn't do to this man what I did to my dad, even if was a total stranger. No one deserved to look me in the eye. The man just sighed. "I asked nicely." I felt a sharp pain in my neck, then my head lurched up and I was looking the man straight in his eyes. His... pure white glowing eyes?

I waited for the screaming to start, but it never came. Instead, the man just nodded. "Hm. This makes much more sense."

"Wait, what makes more sense? Cause right now nothing's making sense to me."

The man smirked. "Oh, I suppose I do have some explaining to do, Adam." I opened my mouth to ask how he knew my name, but he put his hand up to stop me. "First off, no questions until I'm done. My name is Herobrine, and you see, I'm responsible for those eyes of yours."

My heart skipped a beat. "You… gave me eyes that can kill people? Why?"

"What did I say about questions?" he scolded. "Besides, it wasn't intentional. And you weren't the only one who got this ability, Adam. A couple years ago, there was this other kid I was going to give my powers to, but I needed to perfect giving them first. You were my first, how should I say this? Test subject, I guess. When you were first born, I gave you my abilities, then planned to kill you as soon as I got my results. I saw what happened to your mother and the doctor, how you froze them with your eyes. I got my results, but you were the first one I tested this on. I was sloppy and never killed you. Then I moved onto the next test subject and forgot about you over the years. That is until a couple of years ago.

I felt something powerful from over in this area. Something similar to the powers I gave… the other boy. I came here, expecting to find him, but instead I found you. That's when I realized you were something special. So, I started monitoring and learning more about you. I figured out that your effect on people is not only triggered by when you look them in the eye, but also by your emotions. Each emotion combined with your power has a different effect on people. For example, when you're calm, you can hypnotize people into doing different things for you. When you're scared, you freeze people in place forever. When you're tired, everyone around you collapses and sleeps."

I felt a nerves rise in my stomach. "Wh...what about when I'm angry?" I silently pleaded that my theory wouldn't be true.

Herobrine smirked. "Oh, you mean what happened to your father? Well, when you're angry, people burn from the inside out."

I stared at him wide-eyed. "I… I burned my dad?"

"That would seem to be the case, yes." Tears started to sting my eyes. "Now, now. There's no reason to cry, Adam. You should feel lucky in fact."

"_Lucky?!_" I demanded. "How am I _lucky_?!"

Herobrine smiled at me. "Well, when I first found you, I considered killing you right then and there. Then I saw how powerful you were, and I decided that you could be an excellent pawn in my plan."

"I won't do anything for you!" I shouted at him.

Herobrine just chuckled at my reaction. "Wow, you really are a lot like Mitch." He covered his mouth and laughed when he said the name. "Oops. Oh well. Now you know his name. I suppose that it will just save me some time later when you two actually meet. But honestly, you two really are so much alike. You're both determined, ambitious, and oblivious to what is really good for you because of what you lost. One day, maybe when you two meet, you'll both figure out that things happen for the better."

Herobrine handed me a pair of dark black sunglasses, just like the ones I had broken earlier. "Until that day, do not tell anyone of our little talk, okay? Because if you do, you'll lose a lot more than just you father, and I would hate to break you more before I need you."

I reluctantly put on the glasses and looked at Herobrine, who smiled at me. "Good. Well then, I must be off then. See you soon, Adam. And remember, things happen for a reason." Then he faded into the shadows, leaving me in the alley way alone.

_Things happen for a reason_. That one sentence kept playing on repeat in my head. "Yeah, Herobrine," I spat to the spot where Herobrine had stood a few seconds ago. "Things do happen for a reason." My hands shook with anger and tears streamed down my cheeks. "Now I know you are the one who gave me these powers that kill people. You're the reason I killed my dad. I also know that if I ever get a chance, I'll make sure that you don't get what you want, ever. You won't control me. I'll do anything to stop whatever plan you have. And if I ever do meet that Mitch guy, whoever he is, I'll make sure he thinks the same thing."


	20. Chapter 20

_[Martin's POV]_

I stared silently at my picture of me, Simon, and Baki as I unpacked the last of my things into my new room here in America. Oh, yeah. I got adopted the other day. Nothing special happened. A couple from the United States came in, talked to a few of us, then told me that they were adopting me. And I was like, "Yeah. Cool. I'll take it. Anything is better than staying in this place for the rest of my life." So we hopped on a plane, flew to New York, brought me to my new home (which has luxuries I didn't even know existed. I mean, a double bed in my room with my own bathroom that isn't rusty? I'm moving up in the world), then showed me around the city. Everything here was so cool! The park, the mall, basically everything Happy Days wasn't, this place was. So, awesome. So even though I was sad about leaving Simon and Baki, the only two friends I've ever had, I was excited for a new life in America. And as an added bonus, think of all the new people I can prank as Bodil! It'll be like paradise! A whole country full of new, unsuspecting victims! Smiling a bit, I reminisced on happy memories of me and my two best friends pranking everyone at Happy Days, then taped the picture above my new bed.

My new dad, Jeremy I think his name is, poked his head in my room. He was a fairly tall guy in his mid-forties, with buzz cut black hair and a goofy personality. "Time for dinner, Martin," he said in Bulgarian. "Lilly made chicken nuggets. Is that okay?"

"Any food is gourmet to me as long as it is edible. After all, we never got that at the orphanage."

We both laughed then headed down to the kitchen where Lilly, a short redhead with a sweet personality, was setting the table. "Come and eat boys," she said with a smile. Oh yeah, she can speak Bulgarian too. That was a bonus. That way I don't have to look up what every word means when they talk to me.

I sat down and ate most of the meal in a matter of minutes. The food was amazing compared to what I had lived with at the orphanage all my life! Chicken nuggets made with _real _chicken, apples that weren't brown, and for dessert, a cookie that wasn't basically cardboard! It was so beautiful! Unfortunately, Jeremy pulled me out of my food paradise. "So, Martin, how much English do you know?"

I racked my brain for the words we had learned in English class, then tried to speak the language. "A bit. I know enough to keep a con...cornven..cerversa..."

"Conversation?"

"Yes. That," I replied with a giggle.

"Well, that's good," Lilly said. "Maybe then next week when school starts, you'll be able to go right away without us having to teach you the basics."

I groaned and switched back to my familiar Bulgarian language. "_School_?! I thought that this place was a free country."

Jeremy laughed. "Well, it is, but that doesn't mean that the government doesn't like to torture people every once in awhile."

Lilly slapped him on his arm. "Don't listen to him, Martin. I bet that you'll like fifth grade here. It's probably a lot different than school back in Bulgaria, and you seem like the kind of kid who would make friends quickly."

"I still don't want to go," I mumbled.

"Hey, you still have an entire week Martin," Jeremy reminded me. "I bet by the end of it, you'll be bored out of your mind and want to go to school. Trust me. You'll be ready when we take you."

* * *

Well, I learned one thing about Jeremy; he's a great unintentional liar. After his little speech at dinner, he convinced me that's what would happen. The week went on, but I most certainly didn't get bored. Lilly took me to Central park several times, we went shopping for school and my room, decorated it, and I even made friends with the kid who lived next door. His name is Ryan, and we became friends because he though my laugh was funny.

So the week sped past, and the next thing I knew I was standing outside the doors of a giant tan brick building about the size of the orphanage. My new school, and I was certainly not even close to ready to go. But Jeremy put a hand on my shoulder and gently shoved me inside. We said a brief goodbye, then I headed up to my classroom. Kids were putting supplies in their desks, catching up with friends, and talking to the teacher. I glanced around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Ryan. Sadly, he was nowhere to be found. He probably goes to a different school.

The teacher, a middle aged man with grey hair and a friendly smile, approached me. "Hi, there. I'm Mr. Remington. What's your name?" He asked me, pulling out a clipboard of names.

"Martin," I replied.

"Jeremy and Lilly's new adoptive kid, right?" he asked, checking my name off the chart. I nodded. "So where are you from?"

"Bulgaria."

He nodded. "Well Martin, welcome to the States. Sorry that you didn't have much time to get used to your new home before coming here, but if you don't understand something, words or otherwise, feel free to ask, okay?"

"Okay." I said.

Mr. Remington smiled. "Good. Now that that's out of the way, your desk is over there." He pointed to a desk at the far left side of the room, and I walked over to it. I slipped my books in the little shelf, organized my folders, everything you usually do on the first day of school.

It took a good ten minutes, but when I was done with all that stuff other students were still coming in, and nearly everyone was talking to a friend. I just sat there awkwardly, missing Simon and Baki more and more.

After a couple minutes of just staring at my desk, someone tapped me on my shoulder. "Hey, I like your glasses dood." I turned around in my seat and saw a kid with dark brown hair, a navy blue shirt, black sunglasses, and a happy smile on his face. "I'm Ian, the way. I'm new. I just moved here last month from Vermont."

I smiled back at Ian, a huge wave of relief washing over me when I saw his sunglasses. Hopefully with two kids wearing them, the teacher and other kids won't bother to question it. "Hi! I'm Martin."

Ian laughed. "You have a funny accent."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Yeah. I just adopted by some people here last week."

Ian slid into the desk next to me. "Hey, I was adopted too! But that was a couple years ago. So, where you from?"

We talked for about half an hour, explaining where we were from, how we got adopted, joking, and Ian occasionally fixing words that I said wrong or couldn't figure out. Then Mr. Remington finally started class.

"Okay kids, settle down now. Take your seats." The talk in the room silenced and the teacher glanced at his clipboard. "Does anyone know where... Adam Dahlberg might be?"

Ian sighed. "I know where he is, Mr. Remington. He walked in with me. He's probably in the bathroom still."

"Well, why don't you go get him so we can start class?"

Ian walked out of the room, then returned three minutes later with a brown haired kid who wore a black shirt and sunglasses. Adam probably. They talked in hushed voices, but Adam never took his eyes off the floor. He just shook his head, then sat down in a desk at the back of the room. "That's my friend Adam," Ian told me. "I'll introduce you at lunch."

"Okay kids," Mr. Remington started. "First things first, we're going to get to know each other. Everybody form a circle!" Everyone groaned. "Now now, if you want, I can give you a test on your classmates if you really think you know them that well." After he said that, a circle of students was made in a blink of an eye. With twenty-eight kids in our class and a tiny classroom, it was a tight squeeze. I ended up being squashed in between Adam and Ian. "See? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" The teacher asked. "We're going to go around the circle, and you will say your name and two fun facts about yourself. How about you start Mitch?"

A boy in a red and black hoodie, Mitch glanced around the circle. I swear out of the corner of my eye, I saw Adam tense up a bit when he heard the name. "My name is Mitch, and...uh... I like cereal and... trees."

On one side of him, a boy with long brown hair and a headset chuckled, while on the other side a boy with wavy brown hair rolled his eyes. "Great answer, Mitch," the wavy haired kid muttered sarcastically.

"I'm glad you think so Jason," Mr. Remington said, "because your up next."

So we went around the rest of the circle doing the same thing as before. Everybody's answers were awkward like Mitch's. Speaking of Mitch, during the rest of the class, Adam wouldn't take his eyes off him. It was actually quite creepy. At one point, I even asked him what he was staring at. He just whipped his head around and, well, I think he glared at me. I couldn't tell behind his glasses. "Nothing." Then he went back to staring at Mitch, who was too busy drawing something in his notebook to notice. Great. I can't wait for Ian to introduce me to this guy. He seems like the kind of guy who would like me. Note the sarcasm.

Finally, lunch time came. I walked down to the cafeteria by myself, got my lunch from the lunch ladies (people were complaining about the food for some reason. Sure, it's not gourmet, but I'd like to see them try to eat the food back in Bulgaria. Off topic, I know. I just wanted to mention it), then scanned the room for any sign of Ian in the sea of tables and students.

"Over here Martin!" Ian was waving his hand at a table in the far corner with Adam, who was staring at his lunch. Nice to see him staring at something else for once today.

I joined them at the table and smiled at Ian. "Hi Ian."

Ian poked Adam in the shoulder. "Adam, quit moping and meet the new member of the sunglasses crew." Adam just grunted in reply.

"What is up with him?" I asked.

Adam's head immediately shot up. "What's up with me?! Oh, nothing just the fact that I accidentally killed my dad and several other people! Now I was forced to move a state away from everything I've ever known with a death wish on a man I barely even know! So don't ask 'what's up with me'! I'm just a worthless pile of grief who just wants all my problems to disappear for two seconds! Is that too much to ask?" He screamed, more at the world rather than me.

I don't know what came over me, but the next thing I knew I was pounding the table and giving Adam a lecture in perfect English. "Look, don't talk to me about grief or being worthless! I came from an crappy orphanage where I was neglected, bullied, and never knew _either _of my parents! And you know what, I died when I was eight. Like, I full on stopped breathing for four hours or something! You don't think that those experiences still haunt me? Well, they do. But I moved here to a whole other country, and got a new start, so I pushed all those bad memories away. So you have two choices here Adam. Keep on grieving over something you did on accident, never do anything with your life, and push people away. That's fine. You'll never be happy again, but you can still do it. Or you can forget all those things that happened, make some friends, and enjoy life. Because you never know when you're gonna lose it. Your choice."

The entire cafeteria was staring at us, Ian looking the most shocked of them all. I didn't notice them. I was too busy staring down Adam, who stood up, then walked away. I glanced around and blushed at the people staring. "Sorry. I don't know where that came from." After that, everybody went back to eating, but quietly whispering about what just happened. Ian and I, however, didn't say a word for the rest of lunch time.

* * *

No one really talked for the rest of the school day, but there were small whispers and glances my way, so there's really no doubt about what they're talking about. Even Ian didn't talk to me much and shot a weird look at me every once in awhile. Great. First day at school in a new country, and I've already made a fool of myself.

The last bell finally rang, and everybody scurried out into the hallway. I shoved my books into my backpack and tried to slip out into the parking lot undetected where Lilly would be picking me up. I escaped from the crowd of kids and was about to cross the street when someone called my name, "Hey! Martin!" I turned around, expecting Ian to be there. Instead, to my surprise, it was Adam. "I need to talk to you," he called.

"I know, I'm sorry for yelling at you in the lunchroom," I told him. "I honestly don't know what happened in there. It's just that you were talking about how your dad is dead and how sad you are and-"

He cut me off halfway through my little ramble. "No, it's okay Martin. Really. You actually made a pretty good point."

"Wait, I did?"

"Yeah. I mean, the whole…incident happened half a year ago now, and if I think about it I really do have a pretty good life living at Ian's home. I just was feeling bad for myself and, again, mad at a guy who really caused me to kill my dad. But my dad would want me to move on from all that, you know? Just have a good life and stuff."

"That was really cheesy," I laughed.

Adam shrugged. "Yeah, it really was. My point is though, I'm going to do what you said and move on. So, do you think we could be friends?"

I smiled. "Sure. Do you think you can let me into that sunglasses crew of yours?"

He laughed. "You seem like a good candidate, considering that you're wearing sunglasses. We'll make a sunglasses army and take over New York!"

A loud beep came from the parking lot and Lilly poked her head out of the car. "Martin! We've got to go!"

I smiled and waved goodbye to Adam. "Bye Adam."

He waved back. "See you tomorrow, Martin."

I sat next to Lilly in the car and told her about my day. She smiled at me once I had finished my little story. "Sounds like you had a great day Martin. I'm glad you managed to make some friends here."

"Yeah. I was really worried earlier about that, but I think I'll like it here in America," I replied in Bulgarian.

"You know what, you should write to your friends back in Bulgaria," Lilly suggested. "I'm sure they'd love to hear about it too."

So when we got home, Lilly gave me a sheet of paper and a pencil. I picked up the pencil and began to write my letter.

_Dear Simon and Baki,_

_You guys didn't really ask me to write to you, but I'm doing it anyways. America's really cool, and I started school today by yelling at a kid in the cafeteria because you guys know how good I am at making friends._

I laughed at my own introduction then continued writing. Something tells me that school won't be as bad as it was in Bulgaria, even without Simon and Baki. Poor guys. I hope they get out of the prison soon.

I finished my letter then realized I forgot the most important part. I guess I'll just add a PS.

_Your friend,_

_Martin._

_PS: Bodil is planning a big prank right now. These Americans won't even know what hit them._


	21. Chapter 21

_[Bashur's POV]_

"Okay Bashur, seriously. Take off the stupid 3D glasses. People are looking at us like we're idiots."

"Nah. Not gonna do it Harv. You were the one who bet me ten dollars thinking I wouldn't wear these for a whole month."

"Yeah, but it was a bet. Bets are stupid. Now take them off, please! I'll even give you the money."

I tapped my chin like I was thinking. "Hm... yeah, no. Besides, I kinda like them. Maybe I'll just keep them on for the rest of my life."

Harvey facepalmed. "Please don't."

To make a long story short and save some time, the other day while looking at around in this bookstore with Harvey, we found a pair of the old red and blue 3D glasses. We both tried them on just for fun, and I ended up liking them. So I bought them and wore them as we were walking out. Harvey said I looked like an idiot. I thought I looked fabulous. Then Harvey, ever so foolishly, told me that there was no way that I was going to wear them for the rest of the day. I replied by saying that I could wear them for an entire month if I wanted to. He said that he would give me ten bucks if I did that. To put it simply; I like easy money. Who doesn't? So I took the bet then taped the glasses to my face with that super strong shipping tape. They haven't come off for three days now, and Harvey seemed to be regretting his decision just a bit.

"Please Bash! I'm begging you! Just take them off! You're embarrassing both of us!"

I gave him a sly smirk. "Correction; I'm embarrassing you. I'm completely fine with my decision. Besides, I never back out of a bet."

"I'll make a note of that for next time," he mumbled.

School and just gotten out a couple minutes ago, and we were walking to the park at the moment. That's usually where all the kids hang out on a Friday afternoon. It's the perfect spot. There's a snack bar, a skate park, a basketball court, a playground, and some nice shady trees to sit under and do your homework.

Harvey and I arrived after another five minutes of arguing about my glasses. First we stopped at the snack bar where we pooled our money to get two bags of Doritos, two Cokes, and a bag of gummy worms. Usually after that we make our way over to a tree where we just play random card games while eating, but unfortunately two dolts decided to ram Harvey and me with their skateboards accidentally on purpose. I collapsed on to the ground, Harvey falling on top of me. "Ow!"

A devious laughter came from none other than Connor and Travis. "Sorry Bash," Travis said. "You should really watch where you're going."

I rolled my eyes. "What do you guys want?"

Connor made his best innocent face. "Why, what do you mean brother dear? We were just taking a lovely stroll through this beautiful park when you two seemed to have popped out of nowhere. Terribly sorry about that by the way."

Travis nodded in agreement. "Yes, we are truly sorry. And, since you are our wonderful little brother and his best friend, we are going to make up for it." He dug around in his pocket and took out two king sized chocolate bars."Please accept these gifts if you forgive us for our little mistake."

Harvey and I each took a bar and eyed it suspiciously. "Okay, seriously," I said, "what do you want?"

Harvey slowly peeled the wrapper off. "Or what did you do to this candy bar?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Connor asked us. "Can't two boys do a nice thing for two people that they care about?"

"When it's you, no," I replied. "No you do not do a nice thing for us. Now what do you want already?"

The two of them put on a begging sort of look. "We want to know what happened in the cave when went camping," they said.

Harvey facepalmed. "Really? It's been like three years. Why do you guys still care about that? Besides, nothing happened anyways."

"Something _did _happen," Connor insisted, dropping to his knees. "Please tell us."

"No."

"Pwetty pwease with a cherry on top?"

"You guys could be six year olds instead of fifteen by acting this way. Sometimes I feel like I'm supposed to the older brother and not the eleven year old baby. Now for the last time, nothing happened in that cave!" I screamed.

They both stood up and glared at us. "Mark our words boys," Travis said, trying to sound intimidating but failing, "we will find out what happened in that cave."

"And we won't rest until we do!" Connor declared. Next they dashed away on their skateboards, leaving me and Harvey to go back to our regular routine.

We played a couple rounds of different card games before I brought up my brothers again. "I can't believe that they still remember that whole scenario. I mean, I would've forgotten about it by now if it hadn't involved you getting the purple gem thingy that gave you superpowers."

"I know. I just hope they finally drop the subject. They've been bugging us about it ever since it happened, and I really don't feel like trying to explain my whole sorcerer situation," Harvey said, munching on the chocolate bar.

"Speaking of which," I smiled, "when's the last time you've pulled that book out? I wanna see some cool sorcerer things!"

Harvey shuffled the cards and avoided my eyes. "I haven't even looked at the book since that first day."

"Aw...c'mon Harv!" I said. "You can't be serious! I mean, if I had powers that let me make potions and turn into animals, I would be using them constantly! Tell me you at _least_ still have the book."

He nodded and pulled out the familiar gold and purple amulet from under his shirt. "Believe me, I've tried to get rid of it a bunch of times, but whenever I think it's finally gone, it comes back again."

"It's a sign!" I declared. "A sign from the sorcerer people that you're supposed to be using those awesome powers with your best friend!"

"Okay, cool. Maybe I'll use them to melt those stupid glasses," he commented.

"That's not what I meant! I mean go out and mess with some people! Troll a bit. Please?"

"I don't know Bash..."

"C'mon Seto. Just one little troll. If you aren't having any fun, then we can go back to playing cards or something."

"Fine. Just one." He turned the amulet into the old leather bound book and flipped through the pages. "Telekinesis. That sounds innocent enough."

I clapped my hands like an excited kindergartner. "And I know just who to use it on, too!"

We walked over to the playground where on a bench were the trio, Allie, Veronica, and of course Tiffany. We sneaked behind a piece of playground equipment where we could still see them, but they would have a hard time seeing us. I rubbed my hands together all evil scientist like. "This is going to be gold! We're finally gonna get revenge on the people who take my lunch all the time!"

"This isn't revenge Bashur," Harvey reminded me. "It's just a friendly little prank."

"You call it what you want, and I'll call it what I want. Just don't ruin the moment. Now, fire!"

He rolled his eyes. "I can't believe I'm doing this." He glanced around the corner at the trio, who were eating vanilla ice cream cones. He stared at Tiffany's cone, then lifted his hand slightly. The cone soared into the air then when Harvey brought his hand back down, it landed with a splat on Tiffany's head.

She screamed at the top of her lungs as white ice cream drizzled down her hair and face. "My hair! My new shirt! Ugh, it's all gooey!" The other two girls looked at her in shock. I covered my mouth to suppress laughter. This was the greatest thing ever!

Harvey seemed to think so too, because soon after Allie and Veronica were also doused in white ice cream. The three girls shrieked in harmony, then ran off whining about their ruined clothes and hair. Harvey and I fell in the wood chips laughing. "Best revenge ever!" I said in between laughs.

"I gotta admit," Harvey sighed happily once we had calmed down, "that was pretty fun."

"Sooo you gonna do another one?" I asked, poking his arm to emphasize my statement.

He shook his head. "No way Bash. I'm not letting you drag me into this. I need to get home anyways." He started walking down the dirt path that led to the exit.

I groaned and followed him out of the park on to the street. "Why do you have to go home? We always hang out at the park for, like, three hours everyday. What suddenly changed?"

"If I had stayed there any longer, I would've pulled out the book again and pranked everybody there."

"Would that have been a bad thing?"

"Uh, yeah. It would've been a very bad thing. People aren't stupid, Bash. They would figured out something weird was up. Besides, your brothers are already suspicious. I don't need them to get any more hints."

"Fine, fine. Fair argument. If we're not going to hang out at the park, do you mind if I come to your place and play videogames or something?"

"Sure. My parents shouldn't have a problem with it." He replied.

Harvey's house was about ten blocks away from the park, so we had a pretty decent walk ahead of us. We were about three minutes away from the house when I looked up in the sky and noticed the huge dark grey cloud that interrupted the pretty blue sky. It seemed to be coming from the ground. Uh oh. I tapped Harvey on the shoulder and pointed at the cloud. "Uh...please tell me that there is a chance of thunderstorms today."

He glanced up at the sky, a look of panic crossing his face. "Nope. It's supposed to be clear all day."

I gulped. "So...fire then?"

"Most likely."

"Should we go see what's going on?"

"Let's go."

We sprinted down the road until we came to a house that was doused in flames, smoke billowing out of it like black cotton, sirens blaring and people running around trying to help the people who were coughing. Two EMTs were physically dragging one young woman away from the burning building. "Please!" She shrieked. "My little boy is in there! You have to let me save him!"

"Ma'am, please calm down," one of the EMTs said to her. "The fire department is trying their best to get to him, but I'm afraid he's nowhere to be found. Now, you have to come with us. We have to make sure that you're okay." So they dragged the woman kicking and screaming into an ambulance, yelling for her little kid.

I looked at Harvey. "We have to help."

He looked at me like I had just turned into a walking watermelon. "Are you nuts?! If the firemen can't get this kid out, what makes you think that two fifth graders can?"

"Seriously? You're a freaking sorcerer man! How do you keep forgetting that? Make a potion or something!"

"Even if I did, they're not gonna let us in," he said sadly.

"You can go invisible."

"But-"

"Do you really want to stand here and argue with me while a kid is dying in there?"

"Fine!" He snapped. He pulled out his sorcerer book and flipped the pages like a madman. "Potion of fire resistance. That should work." He pulled a brewing stand from out of nowhere then started to make the potions.

Seconds ticked by like hours. "Can this thing go any faster?!" I screamed.

"I don't know Bashur! I've never made a potion before and I'm stressed! Just give it a second!"

Soon we had three potions: one for Harvey, one for me, and one for the kid in the burning house. The potions were in glass bottles and were glowing orange with bubbles floating out of it. Harvey handed me a bottle. "From what the book says, this is either gonna taste like you're drinking snake's venom or orange soda," he told me, making his brewing stand disappear.

"I really hope it's the latter," I mumbled, then chugged the orange liquid. Unfortunately, it did _not_ taste like orange soda.

I gagged a bit and Harvey smirked. "Great. I did it right. Let's go."

"Wait, what kind of potion is _supposed_ to taste like venom? Why not delicious orange soda?"

"I don't know! Let's just go save that little kid, alright? We'll worry about the flavor of potions later." He grabbed onto my shoulder and faded away. "Did it work? I can't see you." his voice asked.

"Yeah. I can't see you either." I replied.

"Great. Move out!"

We ran into the yard, dashing past panicking people and firefighters with huge hoses trying to put out the fire. Harvey guided me through the chaos into the house, which despite the firefighters best efforts, was still very much on fire. When we entered the doorway, I expected the flames to burn me, or at least cause a decent amount of pain. Instead, it just felt like It was a warm summer day.

"The kid's probably upstairs," Harvey said to me. I felt something smooth being put in my hand then Harvey let go of me. "Go and find him. I'll be waiting right here."

I looked at myself, noticing that I was visible when Harvey was still nowhere to be seen. "Why do I have to do it?" I whined to the fire.

"Because I don't know if I could reactivate the spell after we find the kid, now go!"

"Fiiiine." I raced up the charred stairs, and slid under and over piles of rubble, until I came to a room at the far end of the hallway from behind a door, where a faint cry could be heard over the roar of the flames. I pushed open the door and looked around. No one seemed to be in there. "Hello? Anyone here?"

I small hand poked out from under a metal bed. I ducked down and saw a small blonde boy no more than five, his face black with char, tears streaming down his face, and a few burns on him. He launched into a coughing fit. "W-who are y-you?"

I handed him the potion. "Look kid, I don't have time to explain. I'm here to get you out, so just drink this for me. It tastes like orange soda." The kid hesitantly drank the potion, then gagged. "I know, I know," I said. "It tastes terrible. Sorry. I didn't know how else to get you to drink it. Now, let's go before the effects wear off."

I yanked him out from under the bed then we ran out into the hallway, dodging the now crumbling roof as we ran down the stairs. The kid stayed clutched to my arm. We got back out into the foyer, and I called for Harvey. "Harv! Let's go!"

I felt his grip on my arm, then me and the little boy were invisible again. He guided us out of the back door then out into the yard, where Harvey dispelled his invisibility power. The little boy suddenly hugged both of us. "Thank you for saving my life. I'm Eli."

I smiled at him. "No problem kid. I'm Bashur, and this is Harvey." Harvey gave a small wave. "Now we gotta get going. Go run out to your family, Eli." I looked at Harvey, who got the hint and made us both invisible again. We ran off down the street before Eli could ask any questions.

When we were far enough from the fire scene to catch our breath, we collapsed on the sidewalk. "Dude, that was _insane_!" I cried.

"I know," Harvey said with a smile. "I can hardly believe it happened."

"And we found another excuse to use your powers," I told him with a sly smirk.

He shook his head. "Nope. Sorry to burst your bubble Bash, but I don't think I want to be a superhero just yet."

I punched him in the arm. "C'mon Mister Setosorcerer! You know you you like the feeling."

Before he could respond, a voice shouted from down the street, "I knew it!" Crap. Connor and Travis came running down the street after us, huge smirks on their faces. "We saw the whole thing!" Connor said gleefully. "The potion, the invisibility, you guys saving the little boy, _everything!_"

"So that's what happened in the cave!" Travis deduced. "You two became sorcerers!"

"What?" Harvey tried to act confused. "You two must have hit your heads or something."

"Don't even try to hide it Harvey," Connor said. "We know what we saw. Now, explain."

Harvey looked at me and sighed. We both know we've been defeated. "Fine. Here's what happened."

We explained the whole story, from being trapped in the cave to experimenting with Harvey's powers today. Connor and Travis looked dumbfounded. "That. Is. Awesome!" Connor squealed.

"You guys can't tell anybody, okay?" I said like a parent. "We don't need anyone finding out."

The two of them put up their left hands and their right over their heart. "We swear on the River Styx we won't tell anyone."

"What's the River Styx?" I asked.

They smirked. "Nothing. Just an inside joke with a couple friends. But don't worry. Your secret is safe with us." Then they dashed away from us giggling.

"Great," Harvey mumbled. "Now my secret's out."

"Hey, don't worry about it man. They may be knuckleheads, but you can trust Connor and Travis. They've never broken a promise to me before."

"Sure. Whatever. Can we go back to my place now and eat something? Playing hero leaves a guy hungry."

"I call the pudding!" I declared as Harvey and I walked back to his house like nothing weird happened today. "Oh, and by the way, my new favorite glasses didn't even melt!" I said, waving my 3D glasses in his face.

"Stop it, will you? I was trying to ignore that fact!"


	22. Chapter 22

_[Jason's POV]_

I shoved everything I could into my tiny black suitcase. Books, my telescope, clothes, anything I could fit I shoved in that suitcase. You see, we had a long weekend this week with four entire days off! Kelly and Dan decided that we should spend that time camping as a family. They didn't tell us where we were camping, but I was excited anyways. I've never been camping before, on Earth or on my home planet. Wow, it feels really weird to think about my home planet. I've been living on Earth for most of my life now. I've been with Kelly and Dan since I was three and I'm eleven now. The fact that I used to live on another planet billions of light years away seems almost like fantasy. After all, now I'm just like any other Earth kid. Well, I guess I'm slightly smarter, but whatever.

I unsuccessfully tried to close the top of my suitcase. I sat and jumped on top of it, trying to get all my stuff to fit. "Come _on_!" I yelled at the suitcase. "Fit, will you?!"

"You seem to be struggling a bit there Jason," said Mitch, who was leaning on my doorway casually.

"No, really? I thought I was jumping on this suitcase for fun."

"Woah, calm down Captain Sarcasm. I'm just here to tell you that we're leaving in ten minutes." He tossed me an empty backpack. "And pro tip: if stuff doesn't fit, use another bag."

I blushed a bit. "I was going to do that but...uh...I didn't want to take up more space in the car. I know it's going to be pretty full."

He smirked and rolled his eyes. "Sure, Jason. Ten minutes. You're on Mitch Time now."

"What's Mitch Time?"

"It basically a time system where I estimate everything based on when I'm ready with something, so chop chop." He headed down the stairs. "I'll be waiting."

"Well, I hate Mitch Time!" I called after him, stuffing some of my stuff from the suitcase into the backpack then heading downstairs to the garage.

When I said before that the car was going to be full, I meant _full_. Our SUV was at the mechanics being fixed up, so that left us with our tiny Toyota car. In the trunk was a giant cooler filled with all of our food, drinks, sleeping bags and tents. In the back between where Mitch and I would sit were three suitcases and a backpack with flashlights and a first aid kit. Up front Kelly had a bag with snacks that we could have along the way.

I slid into my seat along with everyone else. Kelly turned around and smiled at me from the front seat. "Are you ready to go Jason?"

I nodded and buckled myself next to Mitch, then Dan started to back out of our driveway. "So where are we going camping Dan?" I asked.

I saw him smile in the rearview mirror. "Well boys, we're going to Canada."

Mitch's face got a shade paler. "Wait, Canada?"

"Yep," Dan replied. "I grew up camping in this forest, so I thought it would be fun to take the whole family up the there and relive some old memories."

"It's going to be so much fun you guys!" Kelly gushed. "An entire weekend roughing it in the woods! We'll go hiking, maybe boating. Oh! We could look at the constellations and roast marshmallows and..."

Kelly kept talking about everything we'd be doing on this camping trip. Instead of listening as we drove down the road, I closed my eyes and slept for a bit. I have no clue how long this car ride is going to be, but I know that if I listen to Kelly talk over-excitedly about this trip the entire time, it's going to feel a lot longer than it should.

* * *

After long stretches of road and many pit stops at different gas stations, we finally stopped in the middle of a huge forest at dusk. We got our stuff out of the car and quickly set up our tents before it got too dark. Since we had only eaten the granola bars Kelly had packed and a family sized bag of potato chips on our road trip, we ate some food too. By the time we finished, we were all too tired to do anything else so we turned in a bit early.

"We'll get up bright and early tomorrow and go walk on some trails," Dan told us while shooing me and Mitch off to our tent. "Goodnight boys. Holler if you need anything."

I crawled into my sleeping bag and pulled out my flashlight. "This should be a fun trip, right?" I asked, shining the flashlight on Mitch.

"Mmhm," he grunted, cautiously glancing outside around the tent before zipping it up.

"I don't think any bears will come and attack us, if that's what you're worried about," I told him.

"I'm not worried about the bears," he said, sliding into his sleeping bag. "I'm just gonna go to sleep." He rolled so he was facing away from me, then made an obviously fake snoring nose that said, 'Don't ask any questions.'

"Uh... Okay then. Goodnight Mitch."

I slept for a couple hours before I heard the flap of tent being opened again. I cracked open my eye halfway to see if it was morning already, but it was still completely dark out. I assumed that Mitch just had to go do his business and closed my eyes. After ten minutes, Mitch still hadn't come back to the tent and I was starting to get worried. I sat up, rubbed my eyes, then headed out to find him with my flashlight. "Mitch!" I whisper-shouted as I wandered around the trees.

After a couple minutes of weaving in and out of trees, I realized I had no clue where I was. I was standing in the middle of an unknown forest, and left no trail to get back to the tent. "Great," I mumbled. "Just great, Jason. Now what are you going to do?"

"You seem lost human," a voice said from behind me. I shined my light on the thing behind me. He-at least I think it was a he based on the voice- had brown fur covering his entire body, fangs, and was wearing...is that a suit? He was leaning against a tree, holding a grey axe and a smirking at me like he just found an evening snack. "Do you need some help with something?" He asked.

I slowly backed up. "N-no. I'm good. Thanks for offering, though. I'll just be on my way now." I started to walk away, but the furry thing was fast. He ran out in front of me and tripped me so I fell flat on the ground.

The furry thing put a foot on my back and poked the end of his axe lightly in between my shoulder blades. "Look, I don't know what you're doing here, but you're not welcome. You made the mistake of coming here, and now you're gonna pay the price."

I felt the axe life off my back, and waited for it to come back down. Instead though, I heard an _oof__!_ I turned my head and flashlight to see the tables vastly turned. The furry thing's axe was on the ground a good five feet away from where he was pinned to a tree, looking quite shocked. His attacker was holding an axe too, but it was blue and glowing. It was none other than Mitch, his face twisted into a glare. We all froze, standing (or in my case, laying) there in an awkward silence.

The furry thing spoke. "Mitch?"

"Hi Jerome," Mitch replied. "Long time no see."

Jerome kneed Mitch in the stomach, making him crumble to the ground. I expected Jerome to escape while he had the chance, but he started yelling at him instead. "Three years, Mitch. _Three freaking years._ I thought for sure you were caught or dead. I gave up hope of you ever coming back years ago. I went back to my old, lonely life for _three years_. Then all of a sudden you just _show up_ like nothing happened!?"

Mitch swept Jerome's feet out from under him and sent Jerome tumbling to the ground. "I'm sorry, alright? Things came up. I couldn't leave! I was _going_ to come back as soon as possible, but-"

"Wait," I interrupted. "You lived up here? With that thing?"

"I'm a bacca you ignorant human!" Jerome growled. "And you know this idiot, Mitch?"

"Hey, that idiot kinda saved my skin," Mitch retorted. "His family gave me a home and food, so I've been staying there all this time."

If looks could kill, Mitch would've died right then and there from Jerome's glare. "So let me get this straight, while you were in New York, you got a family, started living the luxurious life, and just forgot about me?! I could've gotten rid of you when you we first first met, you know!"

"Jerome, just hear me out."

"Nope. You had your chance, Mitch. You betrayed me."

"I did nothing! If you would just let me explain-"

"Leave, Mitch. If I see you or him ever again, I promise you'll get an axe to your skull."

"You can come live in New York with us. Just listen-"

"GO!" Jerome screamed, picking up his axe and throwing at Mitch. He grabbed me and together we ran until we somehow found our campsite again. As stealthily as we could, we went back into our tent, and collapsed on our sleeping bags.

"Explain," I demanded after I got my breath back.

He hesitated for a second, then spilled his guts. "When I was five, after the plane crash, I was on the run. One day I found a river in this forest, when I just so happened to have come across Jerome. We became pretty good friends. I lived at his place, and in return went on little expeditions to get food and stuff for entertainment. Then the aquarium happened, only time I ever got caught, by the way. Then I came back to New York for food a couple months later, and found you and Ty. You guys insisted I stay and when Kelly and Dan offered to adopt me, I couldn't say no. I liked living with Jerome, but this was giving me a chance to have a real family again. I was going to get Jerome and invite him to come to New York so we could still hang out, but a year passed and it never happened. I didn't want to get pulverized, so I never came back."

"That's why you were so nervous when Dan said that we were going to Canada," I realized, stating the obvious.

Mitch put his head in his hands. "Yeah. And in case you're wondering, I sneaked out to try and find Jerome. I thought maybe he'd forgive me and consider my offer. I thought wrong, I guess. Sorry to have dragged you into it."

"It's okay, man," I told him. "But you could've at least told me in advance that you had a friend in Canada that was a spawn of Chewbacca."

Mitch smirked. "If you ever meet Jerome again, don't tell him that. He'll kill you."

I snorted. "It seems like he was going to do that regardless."

"Yeah. I don't know what came over him. Usually he's pretty friendly. Then again, he was only ever nice to me and he hates me now for leaving, so all the friendliness was probably sucked out of him."

It was quiet for a minute, then I changed the subject. "What was with the blue glowing axe?"

Mitch's eyes became wide. "What axe?"

"Really Mitch? I'm not blind. I'm pretty sure that you were holding an axe when you were attacking Jerome."

He rolled over in his sleeping bag. "It's not important, alright? I'm going to sleep."

Then it was silent. "Okay," I whispered. "Goodnight again." I covered up with my sleeping bag and closed my eyes. Instead of going to sleep right away though, I came up with different conspiracy theories for Mitch's blue glowing axe. Maybe he was a guardian of some sort, or maybe he could use some sort of magic that lets him summon weapons at will. Maybe he was from another planet like me.

My head spun as I thought. Eventually my eyes could barely open and my mind felt mush. "I'll get it out of him eventually," I mumbled, giving up on figuring the mystery of the axe out. I closed my eyes and immediately fell asleep.


	23. Chapter 23

_[Mitch's POV]_

_Today we shall see how much your abilities have matured_ a voice called from nowhere.

"What are you talking about?" I asked the voice.

There was a distant chuckle. _See you soon._

_Psst, Mitch! _a different voice called. "Yo, Mitch!" A finger poked my side, startling me awake.

My head shot up from my desk. "Huh, what?!"

Snickers rippled across the fifth grade classroom, while a slightly irritated Mr. Remington stood in front. "Well, sorry to wake you Mitch. Did you enjoy your nap?"

I looked down at my math paper, noticing the significant amount of drool on it. I fell asleep _again_? Great. I gave a cheesy smile to Mr. Remington up front. "Uh…yes?"

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. You may go back to sleep now, just please keep your sleep talking under control. Other people here actually want to learn and be respectful." He tossed one last glare my way, indicating that I may certainly _not _go back to sleep, then spun around and continued writing math problems of the board. I picked up my pencil, dried the sheet as best as I could, then frantically tried to figure out what the heck was going on.

They seemed like normal math problems at first, but then I saw something strange; there were letters on the worksheet. This must have been a mistake. I should probably ask someone first, though. I don't want to go up to the teacher and have him yell at me for not paying attention again. I was on the end of the row, and there was only one kid next to me: Adam. Usually I wouldn't ask him for help, not because I don't like the guy, but mainly because he kinda creeps me out. Ever since the beginning of the year, he's been staring at me. I have no clue why. I don't think I ever did anything to him. I'm sure he has a good reason to stare, but that doesn't make it any less weird.

I weighed out my options. A: I could ask the teacher and risk getting in trouble. B: I could walking across the room to ask Jason or Ty and _definitely_ get in trouble. C: I could ask Adam for help and risk an awkward little chat. I leaned over and tapped Adam on the shoulder. "Hey."

He looked over, and was silent for a second. "What?"

I pointed to the worksheet. "Uh...is there something wrong with the worksheet? Because I'm pretty sure that the alphabet isn't supposed to be in the middle of a bunch of numbers."

"No, it's supposed to be like that," he said. "They're called algebraic equations or something. You might've known that if you hadn't fallen asleep," he replied in a teasing tone.

"Hey, I've been having a hard time sleeping, okay?" I snapped. Oops. Probably shouldn't have done that.

"Jeez," Adam said, looking back to his paper. "Sorry. Didn't know you couldn't take a joke."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "I'm really sorry, Adam. I didn't mean to snap. It's just this nightmare I've been having lately…"

I didn't realize that I said too much until it was too late. "Nightmares?" Adam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh...yeah. I know it sounds kinda childish but-"

"No, no, I get it," he replied.

"Wait, you don't think I'm weird for losing sleep over nightmares?"

"Nah. The same thing happens to me, actually. See-"

"Adam! Mitchell!" Mr. Remington yelled from his desk. "You two better quiet down or you'll be staying inside for recess with me for a bit! Understand boys?" We both mumbled yes then stared down at our worksheets.

The rest of the school day was absolutely brutal. No matter how hard I tried to stay awake, I kept dozing off. The only thing that kept me from falling completely asleep was Adam, who every once in awhile noticed me drifting and kicked me in the shin. I'll have to thank him for that later. During lunch and recess I walked around like a zombie. Once we got back in the classroom, my body finally just said "no" to keeping me awake, and while the teacher was telling us about sciencey stuff, I fell asleep. And I do literally mean _fell_. When I woke up, I was half on my chair and half on the ground, my face on the floor. It was _not _a comfortable position. The entire class surrounding me, looking worried. I blinked and glanced around at everyone. "'Sup?"

"Mitch, I need to see you once the day ends," Mr. Remington said calmly. "Now get up, please." Adam and some other kid that sat in front of me helped me up from my mangled position, then class continued on like normal. I still dozed a bit, and Adam still kicked me. At least I was able to somewhat pay attention now.

When the last bell finally rang, everyone got up to leave except for me. "You gonna be alright, Mitch?" Adam asked before he left.

I nodded. "Yeah. I'll probably just get some extra homework or something. See you tomorrow Adam."

He waved one last time then walked out with the stream of students, leaving no one but me at my desk and Mr. Remington in his. "Come over here, Mitch," he said. I got up and stood in front of his desk. He stared at me a moment, then asked, "Is everything alright, Mitch?"

"Yeah. Why?" I said all too quickly.

Mr. Remington shrugged. "No reason. You've just been falling asleep a lot. I take it you're not getting enough sleep at home?"

I sighed. "No. I guess not."

"Do you want to explain?"

"Not really." We just stared at eachother for a bit. It was silent and awkward, but I felt like Mr. Remington understood my situation, even if he didn't say anything.

"Alright then," he finally said. "I understand if you don't want to talk, but just know I'm always here if you need me. If you ever need help with your schoolwork, just stay after school and I'll be happy to help. I don't want you failing my class a month before school lets out because of some sleep problem. I suggest you tell your parents about this whole sleep thing too. Got it?"

"Okay," I replied.

"You're free to go, then." I grabbed my backpack next to my desk. As I was walking out the door, he called. "Oh, and Mitch? Be sure to have those dog tags of yours ready. There'll be a bit of a surprise waiting for you on Crystal Oak Drive."

I turned back and looked at him. "What do you mean there'll be a surprise?"

He smirked. "Afraid I can't tell you that, just be ready. Have a good afternoon, Mitch." Then he looked down and started grading some papers.

I walked out the front door of the school building, wondering what the heck Mr. Remington meant by "surprise". Then Jason, who was waiting for me right outside the door to walk home, interrupted my thoughts. "Did you get in trouble?"

I shook my head. "He just asked me if anything was going on and why I was falling asleep all the time."

"Well, what did you say?'

"I said I didn't want to talk about it."

"And he just let you off the hook?"

"Pretty much."

"You got lucky. Had it been anyone else you would've had to explain that whole dream."

To make a long story short, ever since the camping trip a couple of months ago I've had these dreams that all involve Jason getting killed by Jerome in the forest or Jerome getting killed by me, then asking why I left and telling me I was a terrible friend. Either way I wake up feeling extremely guilty, angry at myself, and scared. I'm never able to back to sleep after that. I'm usually too busy freaking out or crying. Yes, I know it makes me sound like a wimp, but those dreams haunt me. It just reminds me of how I betrayed my friend. I hate that it keeps me awake at night. There's not really much I can do, though.

"So what are you gonna do about this sleep problem?" Jason questioned.

I shrugged. "Wait for it to go away, I guess."

"What if it doesn't?"

"Then I live with it for the rest of my life. No biggie."

"Uh, yes Mitch, it is kinda a huge biggie. You need sleep to function, and without it you could…" He went on this long rant about how important sleep is and how my life will be ruined if I don't do something about my problem as we walked. I just tuned him out as soon as I realized that this was going to last more than a minute. When you live with Jason you just learn to do that. It's irritating, but at least he shows he cares.

I glanced up at the street signs as we got closer and closer to Crystal Oak, still wondering what the "surprise" might be. I don't know what Mr. Remington meant by that, and frankly I'm not sure if I want to know. With my track record, any surprise is bound to end terribly.

When I finally saw the street sign that read "Crystal Oak Dr", I stopped walking and just stared at it. Jason stopped ranting once he realized I was a good ten feet behind him. "C'mon, Mitch!" He called. "What are you doing?"

"Let's go a different way," I suggested hastily.

"Why? It'll take another half hour any other way."

"We need the exercise. It's healthy for us and...yeah."

"Since when do you care about your health? You ate a an entire box of _Cinnamon Toast Crunch_ the other day. That's not exactly what the serving size is."

"Well, maybe I wanna change my lifestyle."

"Mitch, a minute ago you didn't care about your health."

"I change my mind on things very quickly."

Jason crossed his arms. "Why do you not want to down this road?"

"Because Mr. Remington said there's a surprise waiting," I blurted out.

Jason burst out into laughter. "Seriously? He was just pulling your leg, man. There is no good reason we shouldn't go down Crystal Oak. Besides, aren't surprises a good thing?"

"I don't know Jason…"

"Well, you do what you want. I'm going, but you can take the long way of you really want." He turned down Crystal Oak, leaving me behind.

"He's probably right," I mumbled to myself. "I'm just being paranoid. Wait up Jason!"

Crystal Oak is a pretty long street, and the road to our neighborhood is at the very end of it. This made for a very suspenseful walk. I kept looking behind myself, and when I was looking forward I was tense. "Calm down, Mitch," Jason told me irritably. "Nothing's. Going. To. Happen." He turned me forward and pushed me. "Now walk forward and don't look back."

As soon as he said that, a loud hiss sounded behind us. "Okay," I whimpered, both of us freezing in place, "I will gladly take your advice."

"Forget that," Jason replied, his voice shaking. "There are giant spiders behind us. Maybe if we stand still, they won't attack us."

"Wait, _giant spiders?!_" I choked out. "You're joking, right?"

"You can turn around and look if you want, but I don't recommend it," he whispered.

Well, I did turn around. Then I instantly regretted it. Yes, there were giant spiders behind us. Five giant, three foot long, black, hairy spiders with eight blood red eyes, long legs, and huge jaws that showed when they hissed. "W-why... what...?" I whispered.

"You act like I should know!" Jason hissed back.

For a slow couple seconds, the spiders just stood there idly, but then they spotted us. Their ruby eyes sparkled like they had found their prey (which they probably did), then sped toward us. Jason and I did the obvious; we ran the opposite way. But apparently giant spiders are fast. They came after us, the fastest one zooming ahead then leaping onto Jason, pinning him to the ground behind me. "AH! Mitch!"

For a second, my brain went numb, then jumped into overdrive. One second I was panicking, the next thing I know I'm right next to Jason, who was a good fifteen or so feet away from me before, and the blue sword from my dog tags was in the spider's abdomen. Then I appeared right in front of two other spiders, and stabbed them both in the head. Another one lunged at me, knocking the sword out of my hand and pinned me to the road. The red eyes regarded me with a sort of intelligence. It cocked its head to the side and hissed _spawn of Herobrine._

Just hearing his name sparked a little rage in me. I hadn't thought about or seen Herobrine in months, and I was very thankful for that. But why did the spider know him? Wait...the voice from my dream earlier... I'm an idiot! This was the surprise from Herobrine. Wait, then how did Mr. Remmington know about it? I guess that's a question for a time when a giant spider isn't on top of me.

"Did Herobrine send you?" I asked the spider.

The spider opened it mouth like it was going to answer, but before it could a stone axe came from behind and lodged itself right between its eyes, sending it flying backwards in the process. "Stay away from my friend!" A familiar voice yelled.

I didn't even have to turn around to know who was there. "I thought you said that you'd kill me if you ever saw me again, Jerome," I called back with a smirk.

"Baccas can change their minds if they want to. Besides, I thought about it, and I decided that your offer sounded pretty good," my furry friend said, helping me off the ground. I turned around to thank him, but he retreated back a few steps when he saw me. "Woah! What happened to you?"

"Guys!" Jason yelled from behind us. "Spider! Help, please!" Jerome and I turned around to see that the last remaining spider had managed to corner Jason by one of the barren houses a couple yards away. It slowly advanced towards Jason, preparing to kill him. Jason, fear dominating his expression, screamed one last time, "Guys! HELP!"

Jerome charged forward; I didn't. I knew I had to get to Jason, but my legs just wouldn't cooperate. "Move," I mumbled to my legs. The world went blurry again, then suddenly I was next to Jason.

"Holy-" he yelped in surprise as I killed the spider. "Mitch, how did you do that?"

"And why do you have no pupils?" Jerome asked, walking up to us.

For a second, I was confused, but then I remembered when I first met Herobrine after the plane crash. Wow, that was so long ago, but I remember it vividly. I looked down at my dog tags, and sure enough, the name on the front read 'BajanBrine', a name I had never wanted to see again. "Stupid Herobrine," I muttered. I swiped my finger over the tag, changing it back to 'Mitch'. I looked back at Jerome. "Do I look normal again?"

He nodded, but his expression was still amazed. "What. Was. That?"

I glanced over at Jason, who had thankfully turned his attention away from me and towards the giant spider carcass that was now glowing a faint red. "I don't understand," he muttered. "How did they get here?"

"Wait, you've seen these things before?" Jerome asked him.

Jason's face turned a bright red. "It's not important."

"Jason, you are a terrible liar," I said to him. "What's your secret?"

"I really shouldn't tell," he said quietly.

"Fine," I retorted, crossing my arms. "Then I won't tell you mine."

"Oh c'mon!" Jerome said with exasperation. "Please...uh…"

"Jason."

"Jason. Just tell him! It probably won't be anymore ridiculous than his explanation for why he can turn into a guy with white eyes."

Jason looked back and forth between us and the fading spider. "Alright," he finally sighed. "But you go first, Mitch."

As much as I didn't want to, I told them everything. Herobrine, my supposed powers, the plane crash, dreams, everything. By the end of my story, Jerome looked absolutely shocked. "And you have no clue who this Herobrine guy is or why he did this to you?"

"Nope. No idea." I turned to Jason, who looked more disturbed than shocked.

"But I thought Herobrine was just a myth," he mumbled.

"What? You know this Herobrine guy too?" Jerome asked.

"Know him," he said, "no. I thought he was just a story to scare little kids."

"What are you talking about?" I asked him.

Jason just sighed. "It kinda ties into my little secret, I guess. Herobrine was a kid's' story, and the spiders were one of the many things we hid from once night fell. I didn't think I would ever have to see them again." He looked me square in the eye. "Look, I'm not from here."

"Well, I knew you were adopted," I replied.

"No, that's not what I mean." He took a deep breath like just talking about this subject stressed him out. "My parents sent me here when I was three so I could escape from the war between our people and the monster invaders." The giant spider finally disappeared from the ground, and Jason proceeded to stare at the spot where it had been. "I'm an alien, and my home planet was a place called Minecraftia."

_[Adam's POV]_

I sat just around the corner of Crystal Oak Drive, trying to process what I had just seen and heard. Giant spiders attacked Mitch and Jason, then all of a sudden Mitch pulls a sword from out of nowhere, starts teleporting around, and turns into a miniature version of Herobrine. Now there's no doubt in my mind that he was the Mitch that Herobrine was talking about. The one that he had giving all of the powers to. The perfect version of the Herobrine's test subjects. The perfect version of me. The thought was mind boggling, but another thought was overpowering that one; I needed to talk to Mitch asap, before something terrible happens. And believe me, from what I can tell with Herobrine, something _will _happen.

**(Uh...hi. I know that people are probably getting annoyed with all the apologies, but to me it just wouldn't feel right if I didn't say I'm sorry for the almost three month delay after I promised to update consistently. So, I'm really sorry. Honestly. Things have just been so hectic with school and the holidays and other things in my life. From here on out, I'll try to update as much as possible, but I can't promise anything. But I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter regardless :) )**


	24. Chapter 24

_[Ian's POV]_

"Uh...Adam? Is something wrong?" I asked him one morning while we were eating breakfast.

He turned his attention away from the Cheerios and contorted his face into a smile. "Nah. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I've noticed that for awhile now, you've made a habit of not listening to me and Martin when we're talking."

"I've been really distracted."

"After school, you just lock yourself in your room."

"Is that not normal?"

"It's not normal when you make no sound whatsoever."

"Maybe I'm just playing dead."

"Adam, you're not a dog."

"You don't know that."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. You're a dog that likes to play dead when we come home from school. Now stop getting me off topic!"

He just shrugged, a smirk adorning his face. "What topic?"

I facepalmed. "Adam, I swear... *sigh* Whatever."

Adam laughed. "Really, I don't know why you always worry about me. You're not my mom."

"Now you be quiet, Mr. Dahlberg, I will worry about you whenever I want!" I chided in a very bad girly voice.

"But moooooooooom!" he groaned, then we both burst out into a fit of laughter. "See? I'm fine," Adam said.

I switched back to a more serious tone. "If you're fine, then why do you get so frustrated whenever you see those three guys, Jason, Mitch, and Ty?"

"It's nothing," he assured. "I just need to talk to one of them."

"Well, then why don't you?" I asked.

"It's complicated. But really, other than that, I'm one-hundred percent good." We both then went back to eating our cereal.

Joanna came running down the stairs about four seconds later, scrambling to grab her coat and purse. She then came over and gave us both a quick hug. "Sorry I can't take you to school today, boys. Work called me in on my day off. It won't be too much trouble to walk, will it? You know how to get to school?"

"It's okay, Joanna," I assured. "We should know the way to the middle school by now."

She sighed. "Alright then. Just be careful. If you get lost, call me." She planted a kiss on our heads then ran out the door.

Adam looked at me then raised an eyebrow. "We know the way to school? That's news to me."

I shrugged. "I think I know the way. Besides, I didn't want Joanna to stress out about us."

"Alright then Ian. But if we accidentally end up ditching school in our second week of sixth grade, it's on your hands."

"You make it sound like we're about to commit murder, Adam. Calm down. We can meet Martin halfway, if that makes you feel better. He should definitely know the way."

"Fiiiine. We're gonna have to leave now, then."

We pulled on our jackets and swung our backpacks over our shoulders, then walked out into the crisp autumn air. Since it was only about seven AM, the sun was just peaking out over the horizon, and because I was still wearing sunglasses, I could barely see. So Adam and I basically shuffled our way over to Martin's street, which took about five minutes. When we got there, Martin was nowhere to be seen.

"Do you think he already left?" I asked.

"Please. Knowing Martin, he's still in bed, if anything," Adam replied.

"Or maybe he's dead," sneered a voice behind us, making me and Adam jump. We turned around to see Martin standing there, laughing. "You should've seen your faces," he said in his Bulgarian accent. "Priceless!"

Adam walked over and smacked him on the shoulder. "Jerk. How'd you know we were coming, anyways?"

Martin smirked. "Well, it's more you guys just didn't see me. I saw you at the end of the road, so I just ran behind you. I'm impressed that you guys didn't notice."

"Hey, we're wearing sunglasses, it's hard to see!" I joked.

Martin rolled his eyes. "I'm wearing sunglasses too, idiot. So, are you guys heading to school."

"No," Adam replied in a sarcastic tone. "We're just wandering the streets of New York. Why would we go to school on a weekday?"

I turned on my motherly voice again, "Sky, stop with the sarcasm, young man."

"Don't call me that," he replied automatically.

"Wait, you're nickname is Sky?" Martin asked.

"No."

A smile came across his face. "Well, then you wouldn't mind if I called you it?"

"I would actually mind that very much, so please don't."

"Whatever you say, Sky." We then headed off towards school, Martin cracking jokes and Adam getting slightly more angry. I just walked along and enjoyed the banter.

We were about halfway to our destination, when in the middle of a Sky joke, Martin fell to the ground. "Hey! Did you trip me?" he yelled at Adam.

Adam shook his head, then looked at me. I just shrugged. "Wasn't me." A clank sounded behind us, and we all turned around. The manhole cover behind us was moving.

"Do you think there's something in there?"

"I heard that there's an alligator in the sewers in New York," commented Martin. "It's probably that."

Adam snorted. "Martin, there's no alligator in the New York sewers."

"Have you ever been in the sewers?"

"No, bu-"

"Then you have no proof that there _isn't _an alligator in the sewers."

"Guys, shh!" I commanded. "If there is an alligator in the sewers, we're about to find out."

We stood around the manhole, just staring and the fidgeting metal cover. I'm not quite sure what we expected to see. A construction worker, probably. Maybe even Martin's alligator. Either way, we were not expecting what we got. Out of the dark hole came a flash of blue that pushed the cover to the side, then an orange and blue head pushed itself out. Martin, Adam, and I screamed simultaneously, causing the thing to scream too.

It quickly ducked back down into the sewers, but not before Martin called down after it, "What are you?"

The thing came back up, this time pushing itself all the way out of the sewer. It looked like a fish, but it was standing on two legs and wearing a suit. It glanced around, then looked back at us. "Please don't tell anyone I'm here. I just got out of the aquarium, and I don't even want to _think_ about where they'd send me if they found out how I escaped."

"That doesn't answer my question," Martin said, crossing his arms. "You're like, what, a mutant suit-wearing fish thing that developed the ability to think for itself then somehow ran away from the aquarium?"

The thing's eye twitched, but answered Martin in a tone like he had addressed the situation of what exactly he was several times before. "I'm not a fish, I'm an amphibian."

"You don't look like a frog to me," Martin quipped.

The fish/amphibian scowled at Martin. "Aren't you just the sassy one. I don't need to deal with this. Just promise me you won't tell anyone you saw me, and then I can be on my way, okay?"

"We won't tell anyone," I promised, "but where does a talking fi...err…amphibian fugitive go?"

His face softened a bit. "Honestly, that part I'm just kinda winging at this point. I'm just looking for a friend, and hoping he'll help me in some way. If he can't I'll just make a beeline for the ocean, and hopefully not get caught by some miracle."

"Is your friend also a...uh...whatever you are?" Adam asked.

"Mudkip, and no. He's human."

"Well then, what's his name? We might be able to help you find him."

The mudkip looked at us suspiciously. "Why should I trust you guys?"

"Yeah, why should he trust us?" Martin asked.

Adam punched him in the arm. "Because we're not all like you, _Martin._ I can understand if you don't want to trust us Mr. mudkip thing, but it sounds like you don't have much of a plan. We won't tell your secret, and we could help you. But if you don't want our handouts, we get it."

We were all silent for a second, waiting for the mudkip's answer. Finally, he nodded and said, "My friend's name is Jason, and he hangs out with this kid named Ty a lot. Any chance you know him?"

Martin, Adam and I all looked at each other, then burst out into laughter. "Lucky for you, we happen to be in the same class as both of them," I told him.

The mudkip smiled. "Really? That's great! I'm Husky, by the way."

He stuck out his hand, and we each shook it. "I'm Ian."

"Adam."

"Martin. Nice to meet you, mister fish."

Husky glared at Martin. "I don't like you."

Martin smiled and shrugged. "I guess not many people can handle this much awesomeness."

"Uh...guys?" Adam said. "It's five to eight. School starts in five minutes, and we're still fifteen minutes away."

Martin muttered a cuss. "Well then, let's go!" All four of us then rushed towards the school.

* * *

The old red brick school was just across the street, but we were hiding behind some bushes in front of a random house, talking to Husky about how we were going to hand him over to Jason.

Husky was going over the plan for the thousandth time. "Okay, so you guys go into school, do your thing for eight hours while I sit here silently so I don't get found, and then you come out with Jason and Ty to come and get me."

Adam rubbed his temples. "Yes, that is the plan. Now do you understand?"

"...I think so. Just let me go through it one more time."

Martin groaned. "Seriously? You have the easiest part of this entire thing! And we're already like, half an hour late!"

Husky smirked. "Yep. Consider it a bit of revenge for earlier, Martin."

Martin laughed. "Toché. But really, can we go now?"

Husky nodded. "Yeah. But if anyone ends of finding me, don't be surprised if you see a mudkip knocking on your classroom window."

"Okay. See you Husky," I called.

We all slipped out of the bushes, then proceeded to run into the school office. The secretary, a scary old lady with a glare that could scare a demon, shot a look at us when we walked in. "And where have you boys been?"

Adam, who was probably the best talker out of us all, turned on his best apology smile. "Sorry ma'am. It was our first day walking alone today, and we kinda got lost."

She glared at us like she was contemplating whether or not he was telling the truth, then finally grunted and turned back to her computer. "Don't let it happen again."

We all scuttled to our first hour classes, separating us in the process. My first hour was art, and conveniently, Jason is in it. I walked into the art room, gave my excuse to my teacher, then sat down at my seat. I took out my still life drawing (because our teacher is so original), then waited until the teacher told us to walk around the room to look at other people's pieces. I walked over to where Jason was and tapped him on the shoulder. "Psst! Hey!"

He turned around, and smiled at me. "Oh, hey Ian. What's up?"

"I need you and Ty to meet me outside the office after school."

"Uh...okay. Why?"

"I just need to show you guys something. I'll explain later." I went back to my spot at the table, then began to work on my piece while Jason looked at me weirdly from the opposite end of the room. I smiled to myself. Being all secretive and stuff made me feel like a CIA agent or something. A CIA agent protecting a talking suit-wearing mudkip. Seems pretty normal for a CIA agent.

* * *

The final bell rang, releasing a wave of middle schoolers from their last class of the day. Martin, Adam, and I met up at our lockers, then headed out to the front office where Jason and Ty along with Mitch, were waiting.

"Alright," Jason said, crossing his arms, "what did you want to show us?"

I gestured for them to follow, then we walked out to the bushes Husky was hiding in earlier. We pushed back the brush, but the amphibian was nowhere to be seen.

"So you brought us out here so we could look at some bushes?" Ty asked me.

"No," I muttered. "He was here this-"

"Hey! Mitch!" A new voice called. All six of us turned around to see a fuzzy thing that looked like Chewbacca, but he was wearing a suit. What is with these weird creatures and wearing suits? He had a huge smile on his face as he approached us from around the corner.

Mitch and Jason looked shocked, and the rest of us were just confused."Jerome?!" Mitch called. "What are you doing here?

"I got bored hanging out in the backyard," he said, "so I came out to see what this school thing was all about, when I found the biggest fish I've ever seen in my life!"

"I'm an amphibian, you furry ingrate!" Shouted a voice behind him. Crap. Husky.

Jerome pulled out the blue mudkip out from behind him, his hands and legs tied together. Jerome rolled his eyes. "A very rude fish at that."

Jason and Ty's eyes widened. "Husky?"

Husky smiled as best he could. "Heeey, guys. You know this thing? Good. Can you ask him to let me go?!"

"Is this what you wanted to show us" Jason asked me.

I nodded. "Well, minus furry man over there."

Mitch crossed his arms. "Okay, first Jerome, release the fish. Second, I want an explanation. How do you guys know this thing?"

"How do you know Chewbacca over here?" Ty asked.

"Call me Chewbacca again and I _won't _release him," Jerome mumbled.

"We _all_ have some stuff to explain," I said, then looked over at Adam, remembering that he wanted to talk to one of these guys. He shook his head and mouthed _not now_.

I looked around at the little group of six people and two animals. "Alright, you first, Jerome. I'm curious about how you even exist, so get talking."


	25. Chapter 25

_[Adam's POV]_

I walked up to the white house and rapped on the door, readjusting the posterboard and markers under my arm so they wouldn't fall. Jason and Mitch's mom opened it, a huge smile on her face. "Hi Adam! Can I help you with something?"

"I'm here to see Mitch. We have a group project in history that we need to get working on," I told her.

She stepped out of the way and invited me in. "He's upstairs in his room. Jason's over at Ty's house at the moment, so it's just you two. I have some cookies baking right now, so do you want me to bring some up to you guys when they're ready?"

I nodded yes and then ran upstairs to Mitch's room. Today was important, not just because we need to get this project done since we put it off until this last week, but also because after almost a year and a half, I was going to confront Mitch about Herobrine. I'm not quite sure how this is going to go, honestly. How do you go up to a friend and say that he's technically the perfect version of yourself because this magicy person had to test your friend's powers on you first? You don't. Yet I have to. Can you see the dilemma I have here?

I barged into Mitch's room at the top of the stairs. "Mitch, I come bearing poster things!"

Mitch, who was lying on his bed playing on an old Gameboy, set it down and groaned. "Really? We have to do that _now_? But I'm in the middle of a gym battle!"

"Mitch, we've put it off for weeks. It's due on Monday, aka _tomorrow_. If we don't get it done now, we'll probably get another detention, and I can't handle three in one month."

Reluctantly, Mitch jumped off his bed and sat down on the floor. "Stupid seventh grade teachers and their projects. When are we ever gonna need to know about the Revolutionary War in our lives?"

I shrugged and set down the poster in front of us. "I don't know, man. I just want to get this done and over with. Pass me the blue?"

He tossed me the marker, then we worked silently on our project, making a few funny quips every once in awhile. During the times when we were quiet, I thought about how I would casually present the topic of Herobrine. I could just randomly ask something about his powers...nah. Too straightforward. Maybe I'll-

A pounding on the window interrupted my thoughts. "Miiiiiiiiitch!" The window was pushed open, then Jerome and Husky tumbled onto the floor. "Get off me, fish!" Jerome screamed.

"Amphibian!" Husky corrected, then stood up, helping Jerome also. I silently cursed in my mind. Did they _have _to come here now?

Mitch rolled his eyes. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We were bored," Jerome explained. "There isn't exactly much to do in that tiny forest, you know."

"Would you rather be locked in my closet all day?" Mitch asked.

"No," they responded simultaneously.

"Then the forest is your best bet."

"Yeah, but we want friends!" Jerome whined.

"Fine," Mitch sighed. "We can hang out for an hour or something. Then maybe you guys can work with us on our stupid history project."

"How are they going to help us with a history project?" I asked. "They're animals."

Jerome finally looked over at me. "Oh, hey Adam. When did you get here?"

A beep sounded from downstairs. "Mitch? Adam? I have cookies!" Mitch's mom called up the stairs in a singsong voice.

Mitch swore, then shoved Jerome and Husky towards the closet. "But I said I don't _want _to go in the closet!" Jerome whined.

"Too bad, do you want to get caught?!" Mitch whisper-yelled.

The closet door closed shut just in the nick of time. Mitch's mom came in half a second later, carrying a plate of cookies. "Everything alright in here, boys?" Mitch and I nodded automatically. She then smiled and handed us each a few cookies. "It sounded like there were other voices in here...oh well. If you need anything, feel free to ask. Though I can't say I'm too good at the history that took place on the ground." She chuckled at her own joke, and headed back down stairs.

"Okay, it's safe now," Mitch said to the animals in the closet.

Jerome flopped out, a huge smile etched on his face. "My bacca nose smells cookies!"

"Mudkip wants a cookie too!" Husky chimed in.

I tossed them both a cookie, then started to eat my own. "So, what do you guys wanna do, since you have now distracted us from what we're _supposed _to be doing?"

Husky shrugged. "Dunno. I just followed Jerome because I didn't want to be alone."

Jerome thought for a second, then smirked. "Let's play Survival Games!"

Husky and I gave each other a questioning look, but Mitch started laughing. "Yes! Like the good old days, Jerome! We're gonna have to teach these suckers how to play, though. We don't want them to get killed right away."

"Wait wait wait," I said. "Are you guys...threatening to kill us?"

Jerome rubbed his paws together. "Ooh, this is gonna be fun."

* * *

It was about a two mile walk to the forest where we have Jerome and Husky live, and as the only unathletic one in our little group, I fell severely behind after the very first quarter mile of running. It also doesn't help that the forest is at the top of this huge hill. I got to the top five minutes later than my friends, who stood and laughed as I sat down and wheezed.

"Man, Adam," Jerome said when he finished laughing at my pain, "what do you do in your free time that you can't run up a hill?"

"Shut *wheeze* up you *wheeze* animal."

They chuckled again, then Husky helped me up. "C'mon. We don't want to keep these two maniacs waiting. I'm hoping that if we go nicely, they'll give us a decent funeral."

"Nah, sorry boys," Mitch said. "The Survival Games insurance doesn't cover funerals. Or dead bodies, for that matter. But you may survive, that is if you learn the strategy." He and Jerome gestured for us to come into the woods, picking up random sticks as we walked.

I had never been in the forest before, mainly because I figured that it was just another forest. Which it kinda is, but there was also a peaceful element to it. We walked among the tall oak trees, alongside a little bubbling creek. Birds tweeted around us, and every once in there would be a crunch of a stick or a leaf. At least when my friends kill me, I'll die in a peaceful place.

We arrived at a little shack made out of scrap wood we gave Jerome and Husky when we had all decided that we had to keep them hidden last year. That had been quite an interesting conversation. Since then, they mainly do their own thing, but they sometimes will randomly show up at one of our houses, usually when they're bored.

Jerome slipped inside the shack, then returned a few seconds later with a box of protein bars, some string, and a rubber ball. Placing the items in front of our little group along with the pile of sticks, he smiled. "Alright, everyone back up and get into a circle. Or, square rather. Mitch and I are going to explain the rules."

We each backed up about five feet from the items, then Mitch started talking. "Alright, so basically all those things in the middle are your weapons. Except the protein bars. Those are just food. You see, everyone has twenty hearts, and whenever you get hit by someone's weapon, aka a stick, rock, ball, whatever, you lose one heart. When you're out of hearts, you're dead. You just come back to the shack and spectate until the game is over."

"But if you eat some food," Jerome continued, "You get one heart back. And for weapons, you can use anything you can find. Well, within reason. Stuff like sticks, or a ball, a slingshot, that sort of thing. You can't attack someone with a leaf. Also, try not to actually _kill _anyone. That may put a bit of a damper on things. Any questions?"

Husky raised his flipper. "So, we're _not_ gonna die?"

"Nope," Mitch responded. "We'll probably get a bit beat up, but we shouldn't actually be like, dead dead."

"Yes, cause getting beat up by my friends is _so_ much better," Husky mumbled.

"Aw...It'll be okay, fish." Jerome said, making Husky cringe at the 'fish' comment. "You'll be fine. Now let's just get this game started already!"

"The forest is our limits," Mitch quickly added. "No going beyond it, or you're automatically dead. On my mark. Ready," We all prepared to run to the middle. "Go!"

The four of us ran and scrambled to grab stuff. I ended up getting the ball, a protein bar, and a stick before running in the opposite direction. I was a bit mad that I had to postpone my serious conversation, but I'm also a very competitive person. If you put me into a competition, I'm gonna try to win.

The first few minutes were uneventful. Mostly just wandering the forest, looking for someone to fight. Later I had a little run-in with Jerome. I had to run away from that fight, as he got me down to only ten hearts, but I hit him a good few times too. We were both gonna have a bunch of bruises tomorrow.

Ten more minutes passed. I hadn't seen a soul since Jerome, and I had to eat my one protein bar to get back a heart, just in case. While I was walking around the trees, I felt something hit me in the back of my head. "Agh! What?" I turned and looked around, spotting Mitch perched in a small tree.

"Minus one heart, Adam," he called, preparing to launch another stick at me. Before he could, I threw the ball and hit him in the chest. It was enough to knock him off balance and send him falling towards the ground. I ran over to attack him now that he was one heart down, but he's quick. He pulled out a stick and parried my strike. Pushing himself off the ground, he jabbed me in the stomach. I hit him in the shoulder. He swung and I blocked. It went on for a bit, swinging, blocking, and trading blows every once in awhile. Even though it wasn't a real battle per se, it felt like Mitch and I were really fighting for our lives with real swords, both waiting for the other to fumble with our "sword" so we could deliver another strike.

It seemed like we had been fighting forever. I had only two hearts left, which meant Mitch was probably low too. If I was going to make a move, I needed to do it now. Mitch struck towards my legs, and instead of parrying or dodging it, I took the one heart loss and kicked it out of his hand, sending it flying. I then pushed him against a tree, holding the stick right by his chest.

Mitch looked terrified for a second, then laughed. "Jeez. I forget how intense this game can get. How many hearts?"

"One," I replied, not loosening my grip.

"Same here," he said, eyes trailing to the "weapon" pointed at his chest. "I don't suppose you'd consider letting me go, would you?"

I almost immediately said no, I wouldn't spare him. Why would I? This is a game, and I wanna win. But then I started thinking about it. What had I wanted to accomplish today? Talk to Mitch about Herobrine without getting one of my friends killed because they were within earshot. Now we were in the woods alone, and he was probably willing to listen to me if I bargained for his life in the game. "Actually, I may let you go on one condition."

He gave me a shocked look, but then nodded. "Well, okay then. I wasn't expecting that. What do I have to do?"

"I just need to talk to you about something. It's important. And while I'm talking, you won't attack me, and I won't attack you. Deal?"

He agreeded, then I let him go. "So," he said, "what's so important?"

I glanced around again, making sure that a spying Jerome or Husky wasn't around. "It's about Herobrine."

His body immediately tensed up as soon as I said the name. "How do you know about him?" He asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"I figured it out that day a couple years ago, when those giant spiders attacked and you...uh...you know what I'm talking about."

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Mitch exclaimed. "You might've seen me turn into BajanBrine, but that doesn't explain how you actually know about _Herobrine._ Or what you were doing there that day."

"I have an explanation for that too," I told him, rubbing the back of my neck. "I forgot why exactly I was following you, but, see, I've met Herobrine before." Mitch's eyes went wide, and I continued the story. "When I was a baby, he apparently needed to test out giving powers or something to humans, so he tried it on me. It failed, but he forgot to kill me before moving on to the next test subject, so I just grew up. One day, after I accidentally...killed my dad, I met him in an alleyway, and he explained this to me. He also told me that the reason he tested his abilities on me was because he had to give them to someone else, and that time it couldn't fail. He also slipped up and told me that that person's name is Mitch. I figured that whoever that _Mitch_ person was, he was vital to some sort of plan of Herobrine's, and now that Herobrine knew of my existence, we were both going to become pawns of something."

I paused for a second, thinking about how to say the next part. "Ever since I met you, I've been suspicious, and that's why I'd...stare sometimes. I was trying to figure it all out. When I saw you that day, fighting the spiders with that sword, and your eyes glowing, I knew that you were the guy. I needed to talk to you as soon as possible, because," I sighed, "I don't want to be a pawn, Mitch. I just want to make sure we're on the same page, because if you refuse to work with Herobrine, then I'm sure I won't end up working with him either. I also guess I wanted to see if you knew anything more about what he might be doing."

Mitch looked completely shell-shocked. "I... wow…that's crazy. I mean...wow." He sat down and leaned against the tree, rubbing his face. "I'm sorry Adam, but Herobrine's kept me in the dark more than he has you. I just knew about my own powers, and that I didn't want to comply with him." I breathed a sigh of relief. Even though he doesn't know anymore about Herobrine, at least now I don't have to piece it all together on my own.

I opened my mouth to say something, but then a voice from out of nowhere boomed, "Finally!" The world dissolved around Mitch and me, leaving us alone in a black void sort of thing. A figure appeared in front of us, a smile etched across his face. "It took you two long enough to talk!" Herobrine said, white eyes glowing with happiness. "I was starting to think it would never happen."

I glanced over at Mitch, who had now transformed into his "BajanBrine" form. "What do you want _now_?!"

Herobrine chucked. "Ah, Mitchell. Temper as short as ever, I see. There's no need to be cross. I'm just here to talk."

"We don't care, Herobrine!" I shouted. "We're not going to comply with whatever you want us to do!"

"Whatever you say, Adam," Herobrine said, smiling. "But didn't I say you two would get along great? Both have the same temper, both have a great hatred of me, you're practically _made_ to be a team. Now, about that talk…" He clapped his hands, and three chairs appeared. "Have a seat, boys. I do believe we have a bit to talk about."

Mitch and I, though very unwilling, sat down in the seats, staring at Herobrine. "Now Mitch," he started, "You're probably wondering about Adam's powers, here. Yes, just like he said, I used him as an experiment. Kind of like you, version one. I killed all the rest of the test subjects, but I guess I forgot about him. A little slip up, but it works out for the better. Now I have the upper hand here."

"The upper hand in what?" Mitch snapped. "If we're going to be part of this "oh so mighty plan", why don't you tell us what it is?"

Herobrine smirked. "I was going to get to that, Mitchell. Patience." Mitch opened his mouth, but no words came out. "There," Herobrine said. "So much quieter. Now, as I was saying…" He turned to look at me, a fake smile on his face. "Adam, if this is going to work, you're going to need to know your powers as well as Mitchell knows his."

I just crossed my arms. "I'm not gonna do anything _you _ask me to."

"You don't have to, Adam. I'm just here to tell you what you _can_ do." He reached over and took off my glasses, keeping me still with his powers in the process. "I can't say I know everything about what your eyes can do, but I do know quite a bit. It all depends on your emotions.

"When you're angry and someone looks into your eyes, then burn from the inside out. That's the one you have encountered before." I cringed, but Herobrine didn't seem to notice or care. "When you are scared, a person will see their worst fear, driving them insane. When you're sad, any life looking at you freezes forever. You're annoyed, they spontaneously combust. You're tired, they fall asleep. You're happy, they act drunk. Though I think the most useful ability is when you're calm and focused. Then you can hypnotize someone to do your bidding. These powers are unpredictable, but great if you can learn how to use them correctly."

Mitch looked at me, still unable to talk, but stunned. I was pretty stunned as well. Some of them I had figured out, like someone seeing their worst fear from the Darren incident all those years ago, and of course the… burning from the inside out. The others were completely unknown to me. I mean, making someone drunk? Hypnotising someone? Since when can I do that?

Herobrine seemed to realize my amazement, because he smiled at me. "Yes, pretty amazing. I can't wait to see them in action, along with Mitchell's powers. As for my plan, I'll make this short and simple. I'm not allowed to tell much, anyways. Mitchell, you're going to be a king, and Adam, you're going to help him get there. Well boys, I best be off." He stood up out of his chair, and looked at both of us. "I've already interfered too much, so don't be expecting to directly see much of me for awhile. Maybe a little check in or two here and there. Until then!"

The world again contorted around me, and when it steadied, we were back in the woods, standing in the same spot as before. I had my glasses back on, and Mitch looked normal again. It was almost like nothing had happened. Though you could tell from both of our expressions that we were a bit shaken from the experience.

"Well...that was...interesting," Mitch commented. "I didn't...that's a lot to take in."

"Tell me about it," I mumble. "I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page about Herobrine. I didn't think that he'd actually _show up._"

Before we had a chance to talk anymore, Jerome ran over, screaming. "Mitch! Adam! What happened to you guys?"

Husky followed him, trying to catch his breath. "We *pant* were looking *pant* everywhere for *pant* you guys. You've been gone for three *pant* hours."

I looked at Mitch, and he just shrugged. "We just found each other just a minute ago too. We got caught up in the game is all."

"Wait, three hours? What time is it?" I asked.

Jerome looked up at the sky, which had now become a shade of orange. "I dunno. Seven o'clock or so?"

"Crap!" I exclaimed. "We still have to do our project! Mitch, we gotta go!" He nodded, then we both said goodbye to our animal friends.

The walk back to Mitch's house was quiet for the most part. We were probably both thinking about Herobrine. At least I know I was.

"Hey," Mitch suddenly said, "don't worry about that whole thing, alright? Herobrine does that to me all the time too. As long as we don't obey him, we can't be used, right?" I just nodded in reply. "Good. Then let's just get this stupid project done. I still suck at spelling, so you're gonna have to check everything I write." He then sprinted off to his house, which was now just down the road. I trailed behind him, trying to believe what he said about Herobrine. That he needed us to comply with him to complete his plan, and we weren't going to. Problem solved. Though I still had the sinking feeling inside of me that that wouldn't exactly be how it worked.


	26. Chapter 26

_[Ty's POV]_

Eighth grade had ended. Summer had arrived. The excited screams of kids who were released from school could probably be heard for miles. My friends and I were the same way as everyone else. As soon as the final bell rang in through school, we sprinted out the door, through the hallways, and into the streets along with a stream of our classmates. We laughed as we walked to our homes, most of us taking the long route back so we could talk longer.

The conversation we were having wasn't anything exciting. It was mainly about how glad we were that we finally got out of our prison of a middle school, and what everyone is doing this summer, which in almost everybody's case was unknown. The only person who knew what they were doing this summer was me, and I was _not _happy about it.

"So wait," Martin interrupted me in the middle of my rant. "You're spending the _entire _summer at a camp? All alone?"

"Yes, Martin, that's what I've been complaining about for the past five minutes," I said.

"Jeez, that's rough. And your mom's making you do this?"

I nodded. "She hates me, so she went searching for an all-summer-long camp. It's up in the northern part of New York, and it has a technology ban. It's going to absolutely suck."

We all spent the next ten minutes ranting about how dumb the summer camp I was being forced to go to was going to be, and when we met up with Jerome and Husky, I explained the situation to them, then they started ranting along with us. By the time we arrived at my house, we were all having one big complaining party. Even Jason was complaining with us, and he never complained about anything. Needless to say, we weren't in as good of a mood as we were a half an hour before.

As I started walking up the pathway to my house, Jerome called out, "Hey Ty! When are you leaving?"

"In two weeks."

"We'll plan something fun then," Jason said. "Just so you have a little bit of fun before you leave."

I smiled back at my friends. "Sounds good. Meet you guys in the forest tomorrow?"

A chorus of yeahs came from the group, and I walked into my house to find an unpleasant sight. My brother, Caleb, and the twins, Kylee and Jamie, were sitting on the couch watching TV with my mom. Caleb looked at me with an evil smirk on his face. "Hey Ty. How's it going, little brother?"

"What are you doing here?" I hissed

"School's out for us too, idiot," Kylee said. "Believe it or not, college students get a break too."

"Great," I muttered. "Now I'm almost glad I'm going to that stupid summer camp."

My mom turned and glared at me. "Tyler, first off, that is no way to greet your siblings. Second, you had better start sounding more grateful for the opportunity to go to that camp. It isn't cheap. I'm being very generous sending you there."

"Well, maybe I don't want to go, Huh?!" I snapped. "Have you ever thought of that before?! You know what? No. You haven't. Because the only reason you signed me up for this camp was to get rid of me for the summer and punish me by not letting me see my friends. I wouldn't exactly call that generous."

She then stood up and gave me a hearty slap. "That is no way to talk to your mother! Go to your room right now, and come back out when you're ready to apologize. If this happens again you won't be leaving this house until camp rolls around."

I glared at her and started walking to my room. "You know, I don't get why you hate me so much," I called back. "If you ever want to tell me why, I'd love to know." I made sure to slam the door extra hard when I got to the end of the hallway.

Flopping down on my bed and taking off my now signature headphones, I forced myself to fall asleep. I wasn't planning on going back downstairs for anything if it means apologizing to my mom. Dinner can just merge into an all-you-can-eat buffet with the guys tomorrow.

* * *

Sun bathed my little room once morning came. I groaned, rolled over, and covered my head with my pillow in response. It's the first day of summer vacation. Screw getting up. It's not like I'll have the opportunity to sleep in much longer anyways.

Unfortunately, more sleep was prevented by a loud banging on my door. "Hey! Dweeb!"

"What do you want, Caleb?" I groaned.

"One of your idiot friends is at the door, and he won't go away. Get up so we can get rid of him!"

I pushed myself off my bed and quickly threw on clothes and my headphones, glancing out the window in my hurry to see who was there. It was Ian, and it looked like Caleb was there making fun of him or something. I quickly ran downstairs to grab some breakfast, being stopped by Natalie along the way.

"Hey! Where are you going in such a hurry?" she asked. "And what happened last night? I got home and mom said that you were already asleep."

"I'm meeting my friends, and yeah, I went to sleep around five. It's no big deal. Really. Now, I've gotta go."

Before I could make my way around her, she stood in the middle of the doorway, blocking the entrance. "You and mom fought, didn't you?"

"Of course. Nothing abnormal. Now, I _really_ need to go, and I'm starving, so…"

She mirrored my movements so I couldn't get in the kitchen. "Ty, can't you at least _try_ to get along with her? It would make both of your lives so much easier."

"I _have_ tried. You can see how that has worked out. I'm being sent away to this summer camp because of her. And I'm probably going to be grounded for the two weeks I am here for going out to see my friends and trying to have fun after fighting with her yesterday. I've just come to accept that. Now, seriously, Ian's waiting outside for me, and I don't want to subject him to the horror that is Caleb anymore."

Natalie sighed in defeat, and stepped aside. "Alright. Don't do anything too stupid today, okay?"

I nodded, grabbed a granola bar, then headed towards the front door to meet Ian. Caleb was, in fact, making fun of him when I got there. How petty. I interrupted Caleb right as he was saying something about Ian's glasses. "Hey Caleb? I thought you were twenty two. Why are you making fun of a fourteen year old? Don't you have better, adult things to do with your time? Oh wait, with the way you always act, there's no way you'd ever even be _considered_ an adult. My bad."

He whipped his head around and glared at me. "Since when did you get all this confidence, Ty?"

"Since this morning. Now, excuse me." I pushed past him and dragged Ian away from the house.

"Jeez, how can you live with that?" he asked me as soon as he was sure we were out of earshot.

"It's been that way forever. I got used to it pretty quickly. We're going to Jerome and Husky's place, right?"

"Yep. Race you there." With that, he sprinted down the road, leaving me in the dust.

I smiled and ran after him. "Hey! You're a terrible friend!"

"No, I'm a great friend," he called to me, slowing down a bit so we were running side by side. "You need your daily workout to stay healthy. I'm motivating you to do so. See you there, slowpoke." He ran ahead again, but this time I was only a few feet behind him.

"You're not gonna win too easily, Ian!"

We got to the top of the hill by the forest in about twenty minutes (I won the race, by the way), and walked along the creek until we came to Jerome and Husky's little shack. There we saw all the guys were sitting in a circle, and in the center sat a platter of brownies.

My mouth started watering. "Are those Martin's mom's?" I asked.

Martin nodded and tossed me one. "She baked a huge order for some party yesterday, but the people never came to pick them up. I just stole one of the plates."

Mitch finished his brownie then let out a satisfied sigh. "I love having a friend who's mom owns a bakery." Everyone agreed as Ian and I sat down and took a few brownies for oursevles. As soon as I bit into it, it tasted like a chocolate factory exploded in my mouth. I'm not sure what Martin's mom does to make these, but she has some sort of special touch that makes baked goods absolutely amazing. Not five minutes later the entire plate was cleared of any remaining chocolate, and we all had smiles on our faces.

"Okay, now for the reason that we're actually here," Adam said, pulling us all out of our brownie-induced trance.

"Right. Ty," Jason turned to look at me, "that camp that you're going to, would it happen to be called Camp Sunlight?"

"Yeah, it is," I grunted. "It has the cheesiest name ever too. Camp Sunlight sounds like a made up camp from a Disney movie or something."

Everybody chuckled. Well, except for Jerome. "What's a Disney?"

"That's a conversation for another time, my friend," Mitch told him, patting his shoulder. "Anyways, go on Jason."

"Right. So, what if I told you we all went home, did a bit of research on this camp, and signed up?"

My eyes widened. "Wait, are you serious?"

They all nodded. "When you left, we all decided that we wouldn't be doing anything significant this summer, so we went home and looked up summer camps in New York. This was the only one up north, so we assumed it was the one and had our parents see if there were any spots left," Adam explained. "Apparently this camp is super big, and people from all over the country come to it, so there were still like, twenty spots left."

A wide smile spread across my face. "You guys are the best!"

"Hey, we couldn't leave our buddy alone all summer," Ian commented.

I looked over at Jerome and Husky, who had been sitting there quietly this entire time. "What about the animals over here? Are they gonna hide out in the forest there or something?"

Jerome shook his head. "We couldn't figure out a way to hide up there, get food, and see you guys without getting caught. It'd just be easier if we stayed behind."

"What about food and stuff?"

"You're worried about our food situation? Please. What do you think I did before I met you guys? We'll be fine." Jerome assured.

Husky chimed in, "And I'll make sure he doesn't do anything too illegal."

I looked around at my friends. "You know, maybe this camp thing won't be too bad."

* * *

The two weeks before camp dragged on and on. It didn't help that, just like I thought, I got grounded for leaving the house without asking my mom if I could beforehand. I mostly stayed in my room for that time, packing and waiting for the day to come.

When the day finally came, I had to endure the two hour car ride with my mom. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, maybe for her to insult me in some way the entire time, but the drive was surprisingly quiet. She never even acknowledged my presence. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this…

It didn't matter for too long, I guess. We arrived at the camp soon enough. I stepped out of the car with my duffle bag into a large green space with about twenty or so different log cabins arranged in two lines, ten on each side. At the end of the two cabin lines there was a huge lodge with a fire pit in front of it, and behind that a bright blue lake and a little beach. Behind the left line of cabins a dense forest with tall trees covered the rest of the land. In front of it all was a big wooden sign that read "Camp Sunlight" with a smiling sun in the corner. A group college age people, probably the counselors, were standing not too far from the entrance.

Once one of the male counselors spotted us, he whispered something to the rest of them, and they all walked to various places around the camp. He then walked up to my mom and me with a clipboard. "Hi," he said, looking at me with a cheery smile. "I'm Kevin."

"This is Tyler," my mom responded before I could answer.

Kevin glanced down at his clipboard. "Tyler...ah! Right! You're in cabin ten. It's the closest to the lake on the left side. Just drop your stuff off there and grab a bunk." He then turned to look at my mom. "Have you paid already, ma'am?"

She nodded. "And I have his health forms right here."

"Perfect! Just run those down to the lodge and then you're free to go." We walked side by side until I got to cabin ten, then my mom and I went our separate ways without a word.

The cabin was a good size. There were maybe twenty or so bunk beds squeezed into the room, and each bed had a dresser to go with it. A few small windows were scattered around the log room with rays of sun shining through them, lighting up the entire cabin. On the ceiling, fans spun around, filling the air with a cool breeze. Overall, it was pretty nice, but empty. All the bunks were vacant, waiting for the incoming campers. I was the only one there. Figures. Only my mom would drop me off at camp half an hour before check in starts.

I walked over to a bottom bunk in the back right corner and, having nothing else to do, started sorting all my stuff into the old wooden dresser at the foot of my bed. I hadn't brought a lot, mostly clothes, a couple of games, and of course my headphones. Yes, I know very well about the no technology rule at the camp, but I couldn't bare to leave them at home. If I had, it was very likely I wouldn't be getting them back, so I decided that I would just hide them the whole time. That was better than not having them at all. I was weird not having them on, though. I was so used to the weight that they put on my head that now it felt like I had just shaved all my hair off.

After I was done throwing all my stuff into the drawers and rolling out my sleeping bag on the bed, I sat and played with the two purple wristbands on my wrists. I haven't flipped them since I got them all those years ago, but just them being there made me feel like the Ender Dragon was going to pop up out of nowhere and turn me into Enderlox. Now that I think about it, ever since I was little Enderlox has been on my mind. Mainly _why_ the Ender Dragon gave me the abilities. Why give a little kid all that power, then never tell him anything about it again? What would the point be? I looked down at the wristbands. Maybe the Dragon knew somehow I wouldn't flip the wristbands until some point when I was older, so it's just waiting to come out when do. Or maybe it realized that I wasn't using the power and moved on to the next person. Maybe these things don't work anymore. The human eyes on the bands stared back at me, almost taunting me. _You'll never know if we work if you don't try anything_ they seemed to say. _You'll have to try eventually. You have to know._

"Shut up," I mumbled to the fake voice I was giving the bands. However, it did have a point. I _do_ want to know if they still work. If I still have supernatural powers, I deserve to know. I glanced around the room. It was still empty. I looked back down and shrugged. "Well, what do I have to lose?" I shoved my finger under the left band, and was about to flip it over when the door to the cabin swung open, and a boy my age with long black hair wearing a watermelon t-shirt and...old 3D glasses for some reason, burst into the cabin.

"Harv! Over here!" the boy called outside with a high pitched voice. He turned around and smiled at me, then walked over and flopped onto the bed across from mine. "Hi!"

I gave him a weird look. "Uh… hi."

"This _is_ cabin ten, right?"

"Yeah."

"Cool." He stuck out a hand. "I'm Bashur."

"Ty," I replied, shaking his hand awkwardly.

"You're here super early. Where'd you come from?"

"Uh…"

"That's not exactly the first thing you ask a guy, Bash," a new voice commented.

Both Bashur and I turned to look at the new person. I assume Bashur knew the guy, because he stuck his tongue out at him. "Whatever, Harvey. At least I'm _trying_ to make friends."

Harvey rolled his eyes and looked at me. "Ignore Bashur. He's weird."

"You're weird."

"Anyways, I'm Harvey, incase you didn't know. We just arrived with all the people who flew in from other places."

I nodded. "I'm Ty. I'm here early because my mom didn't want me around any longer." The two of them laughed at my comment, and I laughed along. They don't need to know that's actually true.

I sat and talked to Harvey and Bashur (if that's even his real name. I may never know) for a little while. They told me that they (and by they, I mean Harvey who just brought Bashur along) won a competition and came here all the way from California. They also told stories about the weird people who also came from other places around the country. While they talked, I got a good grasp on their personalities. Bashur was way more outgoing and enthusiastic than Harvey, and he was also not afraid to tell embarrassing stories. Harvey was a bit more reserved, but he always was smiling. They both seemed like nice guys. Soon enough we talking and laughing like old friends, not even noticing the other boys coming one by one into the cabin.

Our conversations went on uninterrupted for a good hour or so, then someone decided to so rudely come into the cabin and tackle me with a pillow. And by someone, I mean Adam. "Ty! We have arrived!" he announced as I tried to push the pillow off my face so I could breathe.

When I finally escaped from feather-filled suffocation, I glared at him. "And you had to try to kill me to show that?!"

He smirked and shrugged. "What else do friends do?"

"Adam," Ian's mom voice called from the doorway. "It's not nice to suffocate your friends."

Adam frowned. "Aww… but mom…" The three of us laughed at the inside joke, but when my eyes trailed to Bashur and Harvey, I noticed that they were staring at various things around the room, being sure to avoid my friends and I. I should probably do something to stop this awkwardness.

"Adam, Ian, this is Harvey and Bashur," I introduced. "Harvey, Bashur, these are my friends Adam and Ian. We go to school together."

They all said hi, then we started up another conversation. It was a bit stiff for a while, but soon we were all talking like we had known each other forever. One by one, my other friends arrived and got involved in the group too. Achievement unlocked-new friends made. We sat around the bunks talking for a good hour as a whole group.

Bashur was in the middle of telling us the story of why he's wearing his old 3D glasses when a loud, "Hey campers!" interrupted him. We all looked up from our little friendship circle to see the counselor who had first welcomed me, Kevin, along with another guy I didn't recognize. They stood by the doorway and beckoned for us and the rest of the guys who were in the cabin to gather around them. There were about forty people crowded around them when we all got over there. Kevin and the other counselor, who he introduced as Steve, told us about the different activities that would be offered during our time here (like canoeing, crafts, swimming, typical camp stuff), and also laid some ground rules for our cabin. After the serious talk was done, we sat in a circle and played some icebreakers, went out to the campfire, met the other counselors, and then split off into our cabins again to do a group activity. For cabin ten, that was canoeing.

Now, I have never stepped foot into a boat before, and I hadn't been planning to anytime soon, thanks to my little problem with water. Unfortunately, I couldn't get out of it this time. As Kevin went around assigning us each a partner, I silently prayed that mine wouldn't be reckless like Adam or Mitch. Kevin approached me, and shoved me over towards Harvey. "You two are together," he told us. I glanced over at Harvey, who smiled back. I guess my situation could be worse. Harvey seems like a careful guy.

Two by two, everyone went over and grabbed one of the old metal canoes that the camp had. Harvey and I hopped in ours, then pushed ourselves until we could easily paddle through the water. I almost had a panic attack three different times while we were making our way out to the middle of the lake, and I had to be super careful not to splash myself, but other than that I guess it was pretty fun. We rowed around the calm blue lake, having a pleasant conversation, with the occasional interruption from someone messing with us by shoving out boat around. That gave me a scare, but soon it was over, and we were back on dry land.

The rest of the day consisted of dinner, an uneventful all-camp game of soccer, and campfire. At said campfire, the whole camp did the cheesy singalong thing that they always have the campers do in movies. After that, the campers younger than fourteen went back to their cabins to get ready for bed, while the older campers stayed around the fire, making s'mores, star gazing, and just hanging out. It was supposed to help people mingle, but really people just stayed with their cliques anyways. My friends and mainly stayed over by the fire, hoarding the s'more ingredients. At one point while we were having s'more eating contest (Mitch was winning with seven, but Martin wasn't far behind with six, and was in the middle of making his seventh) Harvey stopped in the middle of roasting a marshmallow and tapped me on the shoulder. "Ty, can you come over here for a sec?"

I nodded, shoved the rest of my s'more in my mouth, and followed him away from the fire. As soon as we were out of earshot of anyone else, Harvey asked, "So, what was your deal earlier today?"

"What do you mean?"

"When we were in the canoe, you seemed a little freaked out. Like, you flinched whenever you rowed, and when someone crashed into us, you looked like you were going to have a heart attack. Are you afraid of water or something?"

I felt an embarrassed blush rise up onto my cheeks. "...maybe."

Even though it was dark out, I could see a smirk on his face. "Wait, seriously?"

"I have a good reason," I snapped, getting all defensive.

"Oh? And what would that be?"

I realized too late that I dug myself into a hole, and everything I say will only dig me deeper. "I...uh...it...burnsmewhenItouchit."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No."

"And how long ago was it that you found out water burns you?"

"Uh...about eleven years ago…"

Harvey stifled a laugh. "Okay Ty, that's a little ridiculous. First off, you were, what, three years old? Three year olds have overactive imaginations. It's very possible that you imagined the whole thing. Second, have you touched water since you found out?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Then how do you know it still burns you?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn't reason my way out of this one. Even if I did want to tell him about my encounter with the Ender Dragon, that could have easily been a figment of my imagination too. I thought about that for a second. Could I have been fearing something my whole life that didn't even exist?

Harvey's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "Look, sorry if I seem like I'm judging you. It just seems a little strange, you know?"

"No, no," I said to him. "You're probably right. It's kinda stupid that I've been believing that this whole time."

He patted me on my shoulder. "Well, that's all I wanted to say. Now let's go find out who won the contest, shall we?"

* * *

It had been hours since all the campers had gone back to their cabins and fell asleep. Everyone had slipped off to their own little dream land, except for me. I wish I could say that Adam's excessive snoring was the cause for my still being awake, but unfortunately it wasn't. I was too busy arguing with myself.

_It was way too realistic. It happened. There's no way it didn't._

_But it's not realistic. I mean, really, a dragon? Dragons don't even exist. And even if they did, why would it make you a half dragon hybrid thing? Seems pretty fake to me._

_Yeah, but I was gone for a month. Where would I be if I wasn't with the dragon?_

_Someone may have kidnapped you. The last thing you saw before you collapsed was a man, wasn't it?_

_Yeah, but I also have the wristbands. Where would those have come from?_

_Well-_

"Shut up," I mumble to the voices in my head, standing up and going over to my dresser. I pulled out my headphones from the back of it and threw them on, like they would help drown out the voices. "Why does this even matter?" The answer was obvious. Whether or not my experience with the Ender Dragon happened could change my entire life. I wanted, _needed_, to know if it happened. And there's only one way to do that.

I tiptoed my way to the front of the cabin and quietly slipped out the door. No one seemed to wake up inside, so I assumed I was safe. I then walked over to the woods and ran until I felt I was deep enough inside that no one could possibly see me. I sat down to catch my breath. "Do I really want to do this?" I asked myself. I glanced down at my wrists, already knowing that I wouldn't let myself turn back. Besides, wasn't I planning on doing this exact same thing earlier? I might as well finish what I started.

"Just do it quickly, Ty," I mumbled. "Rip off the band-aid." I flipped the wristband on my left wrist, then the other. After that I sat and waited. And waited. And waited some more. After about two minutes, nothing had happened.

"Huh," I said, a bit of relief in my voice. "I guess it was all just my imagination." I spoke too soon. As soon as I stood up to sneak back into the cabin, a familiar pain filled my body as I crumpled back down on the grass, tears spilling out of my eyes. It took all my willpower to not cry out in pain. When it finally faded into a dull throb, I tried my luck and stood up.

The first thing I noticed was that I could see everything in the forest as if it was day. Then I moved my hand to my back. I felt two wings sticking out from in between my shoulder blades. "It _was_ real," I whispered.

"Welcome back, my friend."

A sense of dread shot through me. The voice sounded like a low growl, with no sense of humanity to be heard in it. I spun around, looking for a pair of glowing purple eyes.

"Oh, you won't actually see me. I'm just here to talk. Although, I feel like this will be a very one sided conversation. It won't take long, I promise. I know you need to get back to your camping activities."

I looked up at the sky uncomfortably. "Uh...I'm good. I'll just get going…"

"SIT DOWN!"

I plopped myself down on the ground and shut up.

"Good, good. First off, I feel I need to tell you _why_ I gave you these abilities. You see, there is a kingdom that is in need of a ruler. I want to take it, but I have no way of getting to it. You are one of the rightful heirs to this kingdom, so what better way to take it then through you? The people will have a king of royal blood, and I will be able to use the land for my people. However, I'm afraid there are other powerful people who also want this kingdom for themselves, and they will stop at nothing to get it. The abilities you have are to help defend what is rightfully yours, and what is to be mine. Now-"

"Wait wait wait, hold up," I interrupted. "What do you mean I'm a 'rightful heir' to this kingdom? I'm the kid of a woman who hates me and a man who's dead. I'm not exactly royal. Besides, there aren't any _real_ kingdoms left. How am I supposed to rule something that doesn't exist?"

"I'm afraid I don't have time to tell you everything. Even just talking through dimensions is exhausting."

"Dimensions? Wha-"

"LET ME FINISH! All you need to do is to become more familiar with your powers, and that kingdom will be ours. Understand?"

"Uh, can I ask a question?" I squeaked. "If you really wanted me to be powerful and such, why not talk to me sooner? Wouldn't it have been more useful to tell me what's going on when I was young so I could develop my 'abilities'?"

The Dragon's voice paused for a second. "I wanted to let you have your freedom, so when you encounter the others, you'll see I'm much more generous than they are."

"That doesn't make any-"

The Dragon cut me off. "I'm out of time. Goodbye, Deadlox. Until we meet again."

The forest went silent, and I was left alone. I sighed. "When I decided to see if I actually saw the dragon all those years ago, I wasn't expecting that much of an answer." I flipped both wristbands back over, and I was back to my normal self. I then headed back to cabin ten.

I walked in a trance, thinking about what the Dragon said. Me? A heir to a kingdom? That was laughable. Why would anyone use _me_ to get a kingdom? And who were these "others"? Why were they so vicious? What did he mean he was talking across dimensions? Was this so called kingdom in another dimension? And _why_ does he call me Deadlox?

My head spun while I walked, causing me to crash into a tree. "Ow…" It was a good thing the tree snapped me out of my daze, because I was about ten feet away from walking into camp. It would've been hard to explain why I was in the woods if someone had caught me. _Oh, hi random counselor! Why was I in the woods at three in the morning? Well, you see, about a decade ago, I met this dragon who gave me dragon powers, and I wanted to see if it actually happened or if it was my imagination. Then the dragon talked to me from another dimension and told me that he was using me to take over this kingdom thing that I don't know about! So, can I go back to bed now?_

I don't want to imagine how that would end.

I got back into cabin ten undetected, and slipped back into my bunk. I took off my headphones, which were now glowing a faint purple color instead of green, and rubbed my face. Too much happened way too quickly, and if what the Dragon said is true, this is just barely the beginning.

Although fatigue filled me, I knew I wouldn't be falling asleep any time soon.

**(So...uh...five months. Wow. That's...pretty bad. I know that apologies probably mean nothing to you guys at this point, but I'm really, really sorry it's been so long, especially since I know how it feels to be waiting for so long to have a story updated. To be honest, I'm not even sure if anyone will still read this story...but I will finish it. I'm determined. I just need to get back into it is all. So...yeah. That's all I got. If anyone is still reading this, stay awesome :) ~Silver)**


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